


Betrayal

by ShinyZorua



Series: Worst of us [1]
Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Abandonment Issues, Blood and Injury, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Matt is adorable, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Phobias, Sad, Strangulation, Tags Contain Spoilers, Tags May Change, Violence, also, like a lot, oopsiedoopsie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-14
Updated: 2017-09-09
Packaged: 2018-12-15 06:11:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 22
Words: 26,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11800068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShinyZorua/pseuds/ShinyZorua
Summary: Three weeks after The End has occured, Edd, Matt and Tom stumble upon some really troubling news which confirmed their speculations. Edd feels misareble, Tom struck between guilt and justice, and Matt doesn't know what's going on at the start. But soon he will.





	1. Discovery

**Author's Note:**

> Meh okay so I've worked on a couple fanfics once and this is the first one I actually post. Also, Paultryck is not implied, but there are some hints. If you want to ship them (like me :3) you can, but you can also read the whole story without shipping them as the most they will do are just hugs 'cause they're adorable and who doesn't want a hug?  
> Some chapters will be shorter as I just think it fits better that way. I have written a lot of chapters the last days, waiting for the invitation (which didn't take long actually, thanks AO3 love you :3) and I have no idea when I'll be uploading more. So no consistent schedule. Sorry!

Edd, Matt and Tom were at Edd’s apartment, watching some tv. They were waiting for a movie that would start soon, but first was the news. Nothing special, right? Wrong. 

‘The red army has been disbanded. A video had been published explaining the current state of the army, which can be found on our news site. The reason for disbanding the army, however, is still unknown.’ The trio were surprised when they heard the announcement. They lived in their new apartments for about 3 weeks, and quickly realised that their old friend, Tord, was the Red Leader. ‘I guess they didn’t find another one to replace Red Leader then…’ Tom said, sighing. 

The boys were quiet for a moment, then Edd broke the silence. ‘Why don’t we look that video they were talking about? We still have enough time until the movie starts.’ He didn’t want to say that, but he had to. Deep inside, he hoped that Tord was still alive. Tom hesitated for a moment, but Matt stood up before he could say anything. ‘Well, I am curious, why not?’ Edd nodded and took his laptop from his room and sat down on the sofa in between his friends. Tom wasn’t sure of this. Neither was Edd. Matt was alright, though. 

Once Edd found the site, he scrolled down until he could find the video. “Red Army disbanded” was the title, as if they didn’t know that. Edd clicked on the video and put it on full screen, while Matt took a bite of the popcorn. ‘Matt, please wait until the movie, otherwise we won’t have any,’ Tom spoke. ‘Ugh, alright then. I guess I can wait a couple minutes.’ Matt put the popcorn on the table with a groan and looked back at the screen. In the meantime, Edd had put the television on silent, as the video was still loading. Tom wasn’t sure if he wanted to watch it. Ever since the incident, he tried to stay away from anything involving the Red Army. But here he is, as the Army crumbles apart, probably because of the lack of a leader. 

Finally, the video was done loading. The first thing they saw were two men, in the classic outfits of the Red Army, but their faces were blurred. One had a cigarette and one of his eyes was bandaged. The other one had hair that moved away from his face. The one with the cigarette spoke. ‘We, the right-hand men of the Red Leader, announce that the Red Army will be disbanded.’ ‘We apologise for everything we’ve done, and will assure you that the Red Army will not form a threat to anyone anymore.’ That was the other man. They waited for a second before the one with the cigarette stated: ‘Red Leader has been killed in an accident, that’s why we disbanded the army, as we have the highest rank besides him.’ His voice was slightly unsteady, but he still didn’t show any emotion. The boys looked at each other for a second, Tom looked away first. Then the second man spoke again. 

‘To prove this, we have a picture of our leader when he was found.’ When he was done with the sentence, the screen directly switched to a picture of the Red Leader, the whole left side of his face gone, just as his arm, and a part of his stomach. His hair was mostly burned and blood dripped from his mouth. Edd directly put his hands on his mouth, but could not look away. Tom could do it though, he did it as soon as he saw the picture. Matt lowered his gaze as he saw all the blood around the body of their previous friend. The picture was moved away again and the man with the bandaged eye spoke again. ‘This will be the last time any of you will hear from the Red Army.’ They both saluted and the screen turned black. 

Edd felt like he could throw up and closed his eyes. The laptop almost fell of his lap if Matt hadn’t grabbed it. He seemed to handle it best of all three. Tom stood up, ‘I’ll get something to drink for the movie’, and walked into the kitchen. Matt looked at the laptop as the video closed and the screen got back to the news page. He looked up as Edd got up from his place on the sofa. ‘I need to go to the toilet, I’ll be right back,’ he said softly. Matt nodded and closed the laptop, putting it on the table. Matt knew that guy from somewhere, he wasn’t sure. As Edd closed the door to the bathroom and turned on the light, he sunk to the ground. He didn’t know what to feel. Should he be sad, because his former friend died? Or should he be happy, because he got payback? He couldn’t get the picture of Tord’s broken body out of his mind. He got up and looked in the mirror. His face had gone pale, but he didn’t feel like he had to throw up anymore. He was alright. Or he would be. He drank some water from the sink and wiped his mouth off with the sleeve of his green hoodie.

He turned off the light and exited the bathroom, and could see his friend Matt puzzling with the remote control. Tom was in the kitchen, head buried in his hands, elbows on the counter. Fucking Commie. His hands ran through his hair. He shook his head. No, this was fine. He almost killed me, he thought to himself. He led an army, a dangerous one for sure. It was alright now. Justice had been served and they’d be safe from him now. Tom took a sip from his flask and got back into the living room, acting like nothing happened. ‘Edd, Tom, I know that guy from somewhere. But, I don’t know from what. Do you know him?’ Matt looked at Edd who turned a little bit more pale. Tom spoke for him, luckily. ‘Yes, he was our friend, Tord, but he betrayed us. He tried to kill me and blew up our old home, do you remember now?’ Matt let it sink in for a moment, then looked at the floor. 

‘Yea, I remember now…’ He closed his eyes for a moment. He took a deep breath, Edd and Tom looking at him, both of them concerned. Matt then put his head in his hands, remembering the evil grin on Tord’s face. He screamed out loud, startling his friends. Edd sat down next to him, Tom on the other side, and they started rubbing his back. Matt was frustrated, that was for sure. He put his hands on his knees and relaxed slightly. He looked up at the laptop, then raised his hand to smash it, but Tom already stopped him before his hand was completely in the air. ‘Matt, it’s alright, do you want to talk about it?’ Edd said, clearly concerned. Matt fell back into the couch. ‘I don’t know, I am angry at him, but still…’ Edd looked at him with bigger eyes, he felt the same about it! He put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. ‘I feel the same, but it’s over now.’ Tom nodded, ‘Yea, he’s gone now, he got his payback, he can’t hurt us. We’re safe now.’ 

Matt nodded after a couple seconds. ‘Yea, you’re right, let’s wait for the movie to start.’ And with that they all looked at the television again, as Tom turned the audio on again. Luckily, the movie was just about to start. They quickly pushed the memory of their old friend into the back of their mind, focusing on the movie instead.


	2. Smoke and Mirrors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is really short but still important

Patryck closed the laptop and sighed. 

‘Did we do the right thing?’ Paul came from around the corner, looking at his friend. ‘You mean, posting that video, or doing what he said?’ Patryck looked at Paul. 

‘The video, I mean. Was it alright to deceive all of them? And was it worth it?’ Paul waited for a moment before answering, looking at the ceiling. ‘Yes, it was the right thing to do. It’s for our own good, and for his. Do you have a better idea then?’ Patryck shook his head. ‘No, I don’t. You’re right, it’s just… what if everything goes wrong now?’

Paul had already grabbed a cigarette, and was lighting it. ‘We’ll see if it happens, and if it does, I’m sure we can fix it,’ he said, with the cigarette in his mouth. Patryck smiled at him and stood up. ‘You’re right, you’re right…’ he reassured himself. He turned the laptop off and took it with him. He smiled widely at his friend, and both of them left the room.


	3. Distraught

Time went by, and a week after seeing the video, the trio had almost forgotten about it. Almost. Sometimes, while eating lunch or something, one of them, mostly Tom and Edd, would think about the disgusting picture, and would lose their appetite. 

One time, Edd threw up after eating pasta that Tom made. He suddenly felt dizzy when his friend poured the red sauce on the strings of spaghetti, and he had jumped up from his chair to run towards the bathroom. Matt ran after him, while Tom just stood there, looking the way his friends left. Matt would comfort Edd when he threw up and Edd would get a sandwich instead. 

Over all, the tension had dropped ever since they watched the video. They had accepted that their old friend, or whatever he was to them, was gone. Things started going smooth again. One day, the three of them went to a new zoo. They had lions, zebra’s, but also weird animals like special birds, insects and snakes. They all enjoyed it, Matt and Edd more than Tom, but that was to be expected. He still had a good time though. 

They had spent the whole day there and sat down at a table to order something to eat. When the food arrived, they shared jokes and listened to what some other guys were saying. They were talking about the Red Army, and how one of them had a brother who joined. The boys listened closely, but not much new information was shared. At the end of the day, they got into the car to ride home, but it was a long ride. It was not really far away, but an accident had occurred on the road by some traffic lights, which made it an hour-long ride. Tom was driving, Matt sitting next to him, and Edd in the back. They didn’t say much, as they kept listening to the radio. 

Edd sighed and pulled out his phone. No messages. What a surprise. He looked through his photos, smiling at a picture of his cat, Ringo, laying on his back after eating a can of sardines. He kept swiping until he saw a picture of him, Matt, Tom and… He deleted the picture and put his phone away. Matt saw his troubled face in the window and look at his friend. ‘Something wrong, Edd?’ Edd shook his head. ‘Nah, just some stupid photo, it’s nothing.’ Matt shrugged and sat back into his seat, just in time to see Tom drive past the cars that caused the accident on the road. He saw a man with blood coming from a wound at the side of head, and a girl comforting him. She looked at the cars passing by, and the ambulance that just stopped next to them took the man into their car. The women followed and Matt wondered what happened. 

He then jumped up in is seat as he heard a loud noise. Gunshots. Tom looked around for a second, yelled ‘Everybody duck and protect your head!’ and drove off. Now that they had passed the place of the accident, they could go a lot faster and Tom gratefully made use of that. Edd peeked out of the left window quickly to see bushes move on the other side of the road. He quickly lowered his head again. ‘Tom, what are you doing actually?’ Edd yelled. ‘Getting us out of here, smartass,’ Tom growled at him, speeding up after saying that. He slowed down after he didn’t hear any gunshots anymore, then looked out of the window. He could hear someone scream, which was quickly cut off. Someone must have muffled them with a hand or something. It was weird, didn’t they just leave the place of the accident? Then Edd realised something. ‘We must be going the direction of the shooter!’

When Tom heard that, he groaned. Matt just kept quiet, trying not to panic. ‘Can’t go back now,’ Tom muttered. He sped up again and heard another scream again, but after a couple seconds he couldn’t hear it anymore. They were too far away now. It was weird, the one who screamed seemed to be in pain, but also angry. Insane, almost. Tom shook the thought away and drove all of them home. Edd had sat back as soon as the screaming faded, but Matt hadn’t moved. Luckily, they were almost home. 

When they arrived in the parking lot, Edd got out first, while Tom just sat there for a couple seconds, staring at the wall in front of him. He then got out and looked at Edd. Then he realised that Matt had not left the car, and looked at his friend. He didn’t really think about his friends after they left, only that he had to keep them safe. Matt had his head still down and his hands on his ears, his teeth clenching. Tom got in the car and poked his shoulder, ‘Matt, Matt! We’re safe, we’re home. You can get out of the car now.’ Matt looked up after Tom had pinched his arm, looking in the pitch black eyes. He slowly nodded and got out of the car. 

They all went to Edd’s apartment, as he needed to feed Ringo. Tom fell down on the couch as soon as he reached it. ‘Okay, I’m dead.’ Matt just stood there, not really paying attention. When Edd was done feeding Ringo, he asked his friends if they wanted something to drink. Tom, with his face into the couch, asked for coffee, and Edd grabbed a coke for himself. Matt hadn’t said anything, so he grabbed a cup of water for him. He put the hot coffee on the table for Tom and sat next to him after pushing him aside. Tom then sat up straight, coffee in hand. Matt stared absently at the wall of the apartment. 

Edd had put Matt's glass on the table and opened his cola, took a sip and looked at Matt. ‘Hey, Matt, you alright?’ Matt got back to reality and looked at his friends on the sofa. ‘Uhm, yea, I guess. I just, got scared I think.’ He sat next to Tom on the couch and grabbed the cup of water. He took a sip and laid back into the sofa. Edd looked on his phone for any information about what just happened, but it was still too early for the news to pick it up. He sighed and turned the TV on, hoping to find something to distract Matt. After some browsing of Edd, Matt got up from the sofa and waved at his friends. ‘I’m going back to my apartment, good night guys!’ Tom and Edd waved back at him and Matt left the apartment, going back to his. He got straight to his bed and sat down, considering if he would get his pyjamas or just sleep in his normal clothes. He finally got enough energy to change clothes and then fell down on his bed, curling the blanket around him. 

After a while, Tom decided it was best to get some sleep too, and got to his own apartment. Edd was left there with Ringo, and fell asleep on the couch as Ringo purred on his belly.


	4. Concealed

The next morning, Edd checked the news site, and found more information about what happened the day before. “An unidentified person started shooting from some bushes on the side of the highway. We suspect that the person has been shot, as witnesses heard some screaming from the bushes that had suddenly stopped after they heard another gunshot.” Edd sighed. 

He knocked on Tom’s door, and when he opened, showed him the article. ‘Know anything?’ he asked the black-eyed man. He shook his head and pointed at Matt’s door. ‘Let’s check how he is doing.’ Edd nodded and they knocked on his door. They heard rumbling from the other side and when Matt finally opened, his hair was looking just like usual, but he looked tired. ‘Matt, we have- wow, you look tired.’ Tom said as Edd was looking at his friend in surprise. He would always make sure to sleep enough, what happened? ‘Is it because of yesterday?’ Edd tried. Matt nodded and let them in. ‘So, what brings you guys here?’ the ginger asked. Edd showed him the article and he could see Matt shiver. ‘Uhm, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,’ Edd said, at which Matt nodded. 

Tom looked at Matt and then at Edd, ‘I need to go to the store, can I get something for you guys?’ ‘Well…’ Edd started. Tom chuckled. ‘Yes, I will get you some cola, Edd. That all?’ Edd started thinking. ‘Ringo has enough food, I have too, no, that’s it!’ Tom turned towards Matt. ‘Need anything?’ Matt put up one finger and ran towards the kitchen and looked at a note he made earlier, to then run back. ‘I could use some cereal and milk. The usual.’ Tom nodded and waved. ‘Well, I’ll be back soon!’ When he left, Edd looked at Matt.   
‘Tough night?’ Matt nodded. ‘I can’t get yesterday out of my mind.’ He rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed. ‘I guess it’ll just pass on later, but still. Everything’s weird now.’ Edd nodded and looked at his feet. ‘Well, I can better get some sleep. I look horrible!’ Matt said pointing at his face. Edd snickered at this. ‘Well, I’ll be in my apartment if you need me. See ya!’ And with that, Edd was gone. Matt closed the door, rubbing his eyes. 

He would go back to sleep until Tom woke him up when he knocked on the door, about an hour later. Matt yawned and stood up, feeling a lot better. He quickly fixed his hair and rushed to the door to open it for Tom. His friend gave him the milk and cereal from the plastic bag he held and pointed towards Edd’s room. Matt nodded and followed. Once Edd opened, Tom gave him the cola he asked for and they all entered. The rest of the day they filled with doing absolutely nothing besides playing some games and watching TV. A successful day to say the least. 

The next day, the boys went outside to go shopping, as they didn’t have enough clothes. Luckily, the shops they wanted to go to where close, so they could just walk there from their home. On the way there, they went through the park and looked at the people and their dogs. A small one ran towards them and started sniffling their shoes. Edd pat the dog on the head and it ran away, looking for more things to smell. So they kept walking to the store. Once there, they all went to their favourite shop and would meet up at a certain spot. There they would get something to eat to then get home. 

While Matt was shopping, he saw that a certain man would keep looking at him. He had brown hair and one eye was covered in bandages. Finally, he got up to the man and asked what he wanted. The man was a bit startled when he just walked up to him, but kept his cool. ‘Oh, nothing, just looking around…’ And with that, he left the shop. Matt payed for his clothes and got to the designated spot. Tom was already there, he knew exactly what he wanted. Matt told Tom about the man who kept following him, but Tom shrugged it off. 

Edd came not so long after, and Matt told him about the man as well. Edd looked surprised, as the same thing happened to him, but then with another man. ‘He kept looking at me, and eventually I ran into him in an aisle. As soon as we stood in front of each other, he looked nervous. So, I asked what was wrong, and he just shrugged it off. Then he suddenly left without saying or buying anything. Weird, right? This guy didn’t have that thing with his eye though, so he must be a different one…’ Tom didn’t know what to think of this. ‘Well, let’s just get something and we’re off.’ The others agreed and they all went to a little bakery with all kinds of sweets. 

Of course, they bought donuts. They ate them on the way to their homes and not much later, the box was empty (what a surprise). They got close to their homes, when they heard someone yelling their names. They all looked to the right, where the sound came from, and saw a car. Inside, someone was hitting the glass and yelling angrily at them, but the car drove off before they could see who was in there. The car quickly drove off and the boys looked at each other, not knowing what happened. Once they got home, they all went to their own apartments and would see each other the next day. 

Edd took the time to start drawing something, and Matt would change the places of the picture frames in his room. Tom wouldn’t get bored. He had enough alcohol in his home from when we went to the store the day before. An hour later, he was laying upside down on the couch with some bottles surrounding him. But then Edd walked in. ‘Tom, Matt lost his watch, he hasn’t seen it in a long time and swears that he hasn’t forgotten it while moving. Do you know where it is?’ When he saw his friend, he put his hand on his head. 

‘Tom, really, this again?’ Tom smiled at him and waved, still upside down. ‘How’s it h-hanging?’ Edd couldn’t keep a smile from stretching all over his face. ‘Tom, why,’ he shook his head. Tom chuckled. ‘Seemed like a good time to p-party, don’t you agree?’ ‘Tom, what are you talking about?’ Tom shrugged. ‘Meh, you know, com-mie’s gone and shit, everything’s *hic* going well, and w-who knows how *hic* long that will llaaaaa!’ Edd watched as Tom slid down the couch and hit his head on the floor. He quickly helped him up. Tom rubbed his head. ‘How long it willll last…’ Edd sighed. ‘Tom, can we ever get five days without you being drunk…’ Tom shook his head and smiled. ‘I still h-have too much s-smirrrrnoff, can’t let it *hic* get bad…’ He tried grabbing another bottle but Edd stopped him. ‘No, no more alcohol for you buddy.’ Edd shook his finger around and then helped Tom up. ‘We’ll bring you to your room and get you something to eat,’ he said softly, ‘and without alcohol!’ he said more sternly. 

Once Tom sat down on his bed he immediately felt down on the pillow. ‘I think we can skip the whole food part for now…’ Tom was snoring loudly. Edd put the blanket on his friend and got out of the room after turning off the light. He put away all the bottles on the ground, full, empty, half-full, all of them. No more alcohol for him. He did still look around for Matt’s watch though, as he promised his friend he would check Tom’s apartment. No luck. He got back to Matt’s apartment and told him how Tom was doing. Matt shrugged it off, it has become normal to them. 

‘Do we have any plans for tomorrow?’ Edd shook his head. ‘Not yet. I do want Tom to go outside tomorrow, it should be good for him.’ Matt agreed. ‘Why does he keep getting drunk actually?’ The green hooded male sighed. ‘Multiple reasons I think. It probably has to do with Tord and how he betrayed us, or about what happened after we left the zoo. I’m not completely sure, maybe he just felt like it.’ Edd shrugged. ‘Well, maybe tomorrow we could go to the park again, I want to see those dogs again!’ Matt’s eyes were shining after he said that, and Edd agreed. ‘Sounds good.’


	5. Veil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eyyy also short but who cares have fun I still have way more for you all :3

So, the next morning, or actually at 12 o’clock, Matt and Edd woke Tom up, who had a terrible headache. Once he had eaten and taken something to lessen the pain, Edd told Tom about their plan to go to the park. He really didn’t want to go though. But that wouldn’t stop Matt, who basically dragged him along the hallways and into the park. Edd just followed behind, chuckling regularly. 

Once they reached the park, they all sat down on a bench and Matt started pointing at all the dogs he could see. They also talked to a couple of the dog owners and learned a couple breeds. But sooner or later, the park got emptier and they decided to get something to eat. As stated earlier, the park was close to the mall, so they decided to go to the nearest diner. On the way there, they saw three men, one of them walking into the mall. The second man held the third man by the wrist. He was smaller and had his hood over his head, and a scarf covering his mouth. They faced the other way, so they could not see their faces. Edd spotted them first and nudged Matt and Tom, pointing at the men. As soon as the first man entered the nearest shop in the mall, the smallest started looking around. 

Edd, Tom and Matt decided to keep walking when they heard someone yell. Looking the way the yell came from, they saw that the smaller guy with the hood hiding his face ran towards them at a high speed. The man that was holding his earlier wrist was laying on the ground, trying to get up his feet again, but pausing for a moment. He seemed to be dizzy. But the guy was still running at them. Tom was in the front of the group, and before he really knew what happened, the guy grabbed him by his hoodie. Tom could not see his face though because of the hood and scarf, and as soon as the guy grabbed his hoodie, he punched him in the face. The guy fell on the ground and quickly got up. He looked behind him and could see the other man running his way. He ran off in the direction of the forest. The man ran towards his car, presumably to find the other guy. The trio was staring the direction of the man and didn’t know what to do. 

Then the other man that had walked into the mall ran outside, completely panicking. He looked the trio’s direction and ran towards them. ‘Where did they go?’ he asked, grabbing Tom by his shoulders. Tom was getting sick of this and wanted to punch him as well, but Edd stopped him. ‘I think that the other man got after him in his car, he was going to the forest.’ The man thought for a second and saw the car of the other man ride away. ‘Oh no oh no…’ He put his hands in his hair, not knowing what to do. Edd put his hand on the man’s shoulder and he looked at him. ‘Calm down, what’s going on?’ The man nodded and took a few deep breaths. ‘I need to call someone, but maybe we’ll need your help. You will help us, won’t you?’ Edd and Matt nodded and Tom shrugged. ‘Okay…’ The man quickly pulled out his phone and dialled in a number. ‘I’ll kill him when I find him…’


	6. Rush and dread

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meh short who cares next one's biiiiggg

In the car

‘Patryck, I’m following him now. What is it?’ ‘There are these three guys here that may be able to help us, should we go there with you?’ Paul thought for a moment. ‘It is faster to go there without a vehicle, but could we trust them? What if they…’ ‘Paul, we NEED help, he might harm himself, or worse…’ Patryck was starting to panic again. ‘Hey, hey, calm down buddy, it’s alright, get them over here, I’m sure he is going to our hideout. Go there, I’ll see you there,’ Paul said, trying to calm his friend down. ‘We’ll find him, it will be alright…’ ‘Y-you’re right, we’ll come!’ *Click* Paul put his phone away and looked at the road again.


	7. Unveiled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Promised it would be big :3

The man put his phone away. ‘Alright, I know where he is going. You guys need to come with me, are you with me?’ he asked, hoping they would say yes. Matt was the first one to say yes. ‘Of course, why not?’ Edd nodded at the man and Tom sighed. ‘Guess I’m coming too…’ The man started running with the trio close behind him. 

Once they got into the forest, the man signed them to be quiet. While walking through the forest, Tom realised that the man should have been here before, as he knew exactly which turn to take, where to duck and where to jump over fallen trees. They got on the edge of an open place and the man pointed at two tents on the other side of the open place. ‘He must be there,’ he whispered, ‘I will go in, you three all take a spot around the smallest tent, so if he runs, you can catch him. You all understand?’ The three nodded and before they took in their places, Edd asked: ‘Isn’t it useful if we know your name? You know, if something happens.’ ‘Just call me Pat, alright? Now get to your places.’ ‘I’m Matt!’ The ginger exclaimed, at which Pat put his hand on his mouth. ‘Shush now and get in position!’ he half whispered, half growled. They all nodded and walked towards the tents. 

Edd was closest to the tents and could hear someone whispering inside the smallest one. Pat slowly opened that tent and whispered something, but was immediately pushed out of the tent. Pat landed on his rear and looked at the tent, not sure what to do now. He curled his hands into fists and walked to the entrance. ‘Get ready,’ he told the trio, and he crawled inside. They heard someone struggling and Pat screaming. The other one jumped out of the tent. Pat followed close behind, he had bitemarks on his hand. ‘Get back here now or I will have to harm you!’ The one with the hood still covering his face looked around at Pat and the trio, not knowing where to go. He saw Tom and growled, running at him again. 

But this time, Tom was prepared. The guy wanted to punch him, but Tom grabbed him by the wrist and kicked his right leg. The guy had to regain his balance and while he did that, Tom got prepared to punch him. ‘Don’t hurt him, please!’ It was Pat. Tom looked at him and saw the pleading eyes. The guy took this chance and grabbed Tom’s hair, yanking his head forward and hitting his knee. This caused Tom to get very dizzy and made his vision go black for a moment. Luckily Matt was there. He pushed the guy on the ground and he screamed as his right arm hit the ground. Pat walked closer as the guy shivered in his place, holding his right arm with the other one. 

At that moment, Edd saw the other man enter the scene. Edd looked at Pat and realised, that this was the same guy from yesterday! Matt saw the other man enter the scene just after Edd did, and yes, he recognised him! He pointed at the man and yelled ‘Hey, you were the same guy from yesterday!’ But the man had no interest in speaking to them. He rushed towards Pat who held the guy close, comforting him as he kept shaking. The guy opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Paul put his hand on the guy’s back and looked at the trio, to then look at Pat. ‘Patryck, what do we do with those?’ he whispered. ‘They helped me catch him, they’re alright.’ Patryck reassured him. The man looked at the trio again. ‘If you say so…’ ‘They are the same guys we saw in the shop, Paul, remember?’ Paul looked at the three guys and his eyes widened. ‘Wait, you guys…’ 

Right then, the one with the hood clenched his left hand to a fist. ‘L-let them leave…’ he whispered. 

Then the trio, or at least Edd and Tom, realised they knew this guy. He had a Norwegian accent. Edd’s arm shot towards the hood of the man and revealed his face. A part of his face was burned and they recognised his hair. Paul and Pat’s faces started going white and they put their hands around their friend, protecting him from any danger coming his way. Matt realised it last. ‘Hey, I saw you in the bushes next to the highway lately.’ ‘T-Tord…’ Tears started to form in Edd’s eyes. ‘B-but you were dead?’ Tom yelled. Pat and Paul looked at each other as Tord shrunk back in the embrace of the two men. ‘I-it was fake, we edited the image, s-so that no one would expect him to still be here… so that h-he can be safe…’ Pat looked at Tord. ‘Pat! Why did you say that?’ Paul was furious. ‘They needed to know the truth,’ Pat spat back, ‘we need them anyways, so, w-what does it matter?’ Paul looked away from his friend and to the trio. 

It was quiet for a moment until Matt said: ‘Tord? As in, our Tord?’ He looked at Tom and Edd. Tom nodded and looked away. Edd tried to keep himself together, but he was too confused. He looked at the Norwegian male and looked him in the eyes. ‘It’s really you…’ Pat nodded at Edd and put a hand on his shoulder.  
Paul pushed Pat’s hand from Edd’s shoulder. ‘We should go,’ he said sternly, wanting to pick Tord up. ‘Paul!’ The man looked at his friend. ‘You keep running away, but this time we won’t! We wanted the best for Tord, right? But it seems like you’d rather keep living on the street. That’s not good for him, and mostly not in his current state. I made this plan, you agreed, and now you just want to give up on it? On me?’ Pat was at a loss, wasn’t he the one who encouraged him to do all this? Pat held Tord closer to himself as Paul looked at his friend. He shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, you are right…’ 

In the meantime, Tom had walked towards the other side of the clearing and Matt was trying to calm Edd down, who had started crying. Tord hadn’t moved, aside from that his whole body was shaking of course, and looked at Paul and Pat. They looked at him, how weak he was, how broken, and Pat looked at Paul. ‘We NEED them, Paul…’ Pat whispered. Paul hesitated, looked at the three guys, at Tord and then at Pat. He sighed and nodded. Pat and Paul helped Tord get up and they looked at the three guys. Edd had calmed down by now and he and Matt were looking at Tord. But the Norwegian looked away from them, scared and a bit ashamed. Tom had also calmed down by now and could get a closer look at Tord. He was shocked when he saw the wounds on his face, but not only that, he looked different out of his eyes. Not like Tord to say the least. 

‘I’ll put him in his tent so he can rest, then you can talk to them, alright Pat?’ Patryck nodded and Paul took Tord to his tent. ‘So, as you can see, Tord is not really, uh, himself to say the least. He has been acting strangely, paranoid may be a better word. He kept saying your names so we decided to follow you, yea, not the best thing we did, but it doesn’t matter. Tord has been having some problems and I think you guys can help him.’ Edd looked in the direction of Tord’s tent. ‘He did look different… But, how can we help him?’ Patryck sighed. ‘We know a lot about Tord, but different things that you know. We were his right-hand men, and since the -incident- he has been acting strangely. His arm is badly wounded, more than his face, and ever since we found him, he had many problems. The best thing we could do was disband the army, as it was clear that he would not lead it again. So we made that video, hoping no one would look for him again. After that, we have been living here. We needed some isolation for Tord, you see, as he would probably harm himself and others around him if he felt in danger. So now we live here.’ The trio let it sink in for a moment as Paul walked out of the tent. ‘He’s tired from today, and will probably fall asleep quickly.’ Patryck nodded. ‘Thanks, I’ll check on him later.’ 

‘So, these are the guys…’ Pat nodded. He pointed at Edd, ‘You are Edd,’ then towards Matt, ‘you must be Matt,’ and then at Tom, ‘and then you must be Tom.’ Tom nodded and grunted. ‘So, they are gonna help us?’ Paul looked at Tom, not sure what to think of him. ‘Well, I told them the situation, but maybe we should give them some time to think about it.’ Pat smiled at the trio, but they could obviously see that he faked it. He was very concerned. ‘Maybe we can at least have their number, so we can inform them on how he’s doing,’ Paul tried. He ran towards the bigger tent and came back with a pencil and a piece of paper. He handed it towards Edd, who quickly put his number down. He handed it to Matt, but he had forgotten his number already. Edd gave the paper to Tom, but he declined. Edd still wrote down Tom’s number and gave it back. In the meantime, Maul had written down their phone-numbers and given it to Edd. ‘We owe you a lot, thanks!’ Pat gave Edd a pat on the shoulder (;3) and gave them a thumbs-up. ‘We’ll call when we have decided,’ Edd spoke. With that, Tom turned around and started walking home. Matt quickly followed and Edd waved at Pat and Paul, running after his friends. 

The smile on Patryck’s face subsided. ‘Will they come back?’ he asked his friend. Paul put his hand on his shoulder, ‘I’m not sure, but we don’t have a choice.’ And with that, the two men got back to check on Tord, who was laying quietly in his tent. Once he heard that Paul opened the tent, he looked up at him. ‘They’re going home now, but they will call soon.’ Tord rested his head on his pillow again. ‘I don’t want them to go near me, and you know that!’ He grasped his sleeping bag tightly and got inside of it. ‘But Tord, trust me, it will be for the best.’ But Tord shook his head. ‘No, they must die, or they will kill me. They ruined everything, all I’ve worked for, I just…’ Tord had sat up straight again, his eyes wild. ‘I wished I killed Tom instead of Jon! I should have shot right!’ Paul stared at him for a second with his eye that was not bandaged. ‘Tord, go to sleep. You’re rambling again.’ Tord growled and grabbed his pillow, digging his fingers into it as if trying to choke it. ‘Tord, stop it please, you need to rest now.’ Tord didn’t answer but kept going. 

‘Tord, listen to me,’ Patryck was standing next to Paul, looking inside the tent. ‘Tord, please, just go to-’ ‘Shut up or I’ll kill you.’ This has shocked Patryck and he put his hand in front of his mouth. ‘Fine, stay in here then…’ And with that, Patryck stood up. ‘I’ll get the stuff from the car.’ Paul looked at his friend who walked away to the car and then at Tord. ‘I am really doubting if we can fix you,’ he said, and then walked away. Tord stopped trying to strangle his pillow and looked at Paul closing the tent. ‘Why did I ever hire you, you are worthless!’ He yelled. He didn’t know what to do. The best thing was, according to him, to wait it out now. So he laid down in his sleeping bag and tried to get some rest, while muttering something about Paul under his breath. Outside of the tent, Paul kicked a rock away and walked the way Patryck went. Boy, was he getting sick of Tord sometimes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yea Tord's a little paranoid in this just get used to it :3


	8. Doubt

‘Why should we help him? He tried to kill me and destroyed our house. Plus, he killed Jon! We should just leave those guys with him, they don’t know where we live anyways.’ Tom was furious. He didn’t want anything to do with Tord. But Edd shook his head. ‘No, Tom, first of all, they did know what we look like. So they may even know where we live. And secondly, did you look at him? He is not the Tord he once was, not the Tord from the past and not the Tord that we saw a couple weeks ago. And those guys, Pat and Paul, they seem to really care for him. They have to keep him safe with only the two of them, and they could have lost him! I can’t just stand here without doing anything, even if it’s oh so small.’   
‘No, no we can’t! Didn’t you see how dangerous he is? He is unpredictable and most likely wants to kill us!’ Edd shook his head. ‘No, he wanted to attack you. That’s completely different. When he saw us, he appeared to be ashamed and scared. He’s probably furious at you because you blew up his robot. He probably put a lot of effort in it.’ 

Matt listened to them arguing, waiting for them to give him a turn to speak. When Edd was done, he took a step forward and put up his finger. ‘Can I say something?’ Tom immediately turned his head towards Matt. ‘No you may not!’ ‘Tom, don’t be so rude. Matt has a voice too.’ Matt nodded at Edd, ‘Thanks, I think that we should call them and ask them how Tord is doing. Like, what he does and stuff. Maybe this was the only time he attacked someone. I mean, the only one he ever attacked was Tom.’ ‘No, Matt, he also attacked Pat in the tent, don’t you remember? He got bitten in his hand. Is that enough reason that I don’t trust him?’ 

But Matt had already grabbed Edd’s phone, as his own one was still in his apartment, and took the piece of paper with the number from Edd. Tom wanted to take the phone from him, but Edd took his hand and put it away. ‘No, Tom, I think that Matt is right. Let’s call them.’ Matt put the phone on speaker at the request of Edd and held it in between the three of them. 

It took some time but finally, they heard a voice from the other side of the line. ‘It’s me, Paul. And, what will you do, will you help us?’ Edd was the first one to answer. ‘Well, we aren’t sure yet, but we wanted to ask,’ he paused for a moment, thinking of what to say. ‘We wanted to ask how Tord was doing, and how many people he had attacked so far.’ It was quiet for a second and they heard Paul quietly talking to Patryck. They could not make out what they were saying, though. ‘He is, stressed a lot.’ Paul answered. ‘Don’t forget slightly aggressive,’ they could hear Patryck say. On the other side of the line, Paul gave an “are you serious” glance at Patryck and returned to the call. ‘Yes, he can be unpredictable at certain times. He also seems to have something against Tom, but that can be fixed.’ 

It was obvious that Paul was trying to make everything look less bad as it was. ‘And, how many people has he attacked? At least Tom and Pat, and maybe you when he tried attacking Tom, but has it happened more often?’ ‘N-no, those were the only times he-’ ‘Alright, gonna cut you off real quick,’ Patryck said, ‘so he has attacked a soldier that tried helping him after we came back from the -incident-, and he has attacked us sometimes, but only when he gets frustrated or tries to leave. So it’s mostly us. I think that at least Edd and Matt should be alright. With Tom, I’m not sure.’ They heard Paul whisper something to Patryck in an angry tone, but got cut off again. ‘No, they need to know the truth. They were his friends, remember?’ 

They heard some footsteps and Patryck spoke again. ‘I hope this clears everything up. I need to go now, I don’t like the idea of Paul being alone with Tord. Call back when you know the answer!’ And with that, the call ended. They stayed quiet for a moment.

‘What did I tell you,’ Tom spoke towards Edd, ‘Seems clear to me. Can we just ignore those guys?’ Edd looked back at Tom. ‘No, think about it. He has attacked Paul and Patryck multiple times and is very stressed. But maybe, if all that stress is lifted, he will act like he did before all this. Maybe stress was the reason this all started in the first place! We don’t know, we haven’t seen him in so long before what happened… You know what? Let’s all take some time to think. Watch a show, take a shower, and then we’ll come back here and talk again. Let’s say, in two hours. Sounds fair?’ Tom shrugged and walked out of the room. Matt waved at his friend and followed Tom’s example, going to his own apartment after closing the door behind him. 

Edd sat down on his couch, turning on the TV with Ringo in his lap. He had fed him after they got back home and Ringo wanted some attention from his owner. Of course, no one can resist a cat. 

Half an hour after the trio left Tord and his former right hand men, he got out of his tent again. He could not sleep and was frustrated. He sat down on a tree trunk that they used as a chair and looked around. Apparently, Paul and Patryck have left him alone. Yes, this was his chance! He ran over the open place and towards the side he came from after he attacked Tom.

He just entered the bushes as he saw Paul. He quickly ran back to the open field, hoping that Paul didn’t see him. But he had. Paul had walked here many times before, just like Patryck, and knew exactly what branches to avoid. Tord did not. He didn’t look out and while running, got many branches hitting him in the face. This made him slow down, and once he reached the open field, Paul had grabbed his left hand. ‘You can’t leave, Tord, it’s for your own good.’ He said as he looked him in the eyes. Tord tried to escape Paul’s grip, but failed. Instead, he kicked Paul’s left leg. Paul flinched but didn’t let go, so Tord bit his arm. It had helped before, so why not now? He was lucky, it worked. Paul yelled as Tord bit his arm, letting go of the Norwegian’s hand. 

But before he could run, Paul jumped on the ground, grabbing Tord’s foot. He fell on the ground and tried breaking his fall by using his arms, which went wrong as expected. He landed on his elbows, and directly rolled on his left side. He grasped his right arm with his left and let out a scream of pain. Paul didn’t know what to do and if Tord would attack if he came closer, which would probably cause Tord to harm himself even more. Tord’s whole body shivered as he clenched his teeth. This time, his whole weight was put on the arm, which hurt more than when Matt had pushed him.

Suddenly, Patryck jumped out of the tent, his eyes wide with fear. He looked around and when he finally saw Tord on the ground, he calmed down a little, but not much. He ran towards his former boss and helped him sit up. He looked at Paul, who looked at his friend with guilt written all over his face. ‘H-he tried to escape, so I captured him, but he-‘ ‘It’s alright, Paul, I understand that you didn’t want to harm him.’ He brought Tord to his tent and sat next to Paul on the ground before the tents. ‘Did he hit you?’ Patryck asked. ‘Meh, it’s alright.’ Paul shrugged it off and hid his arm behind his back. Patryck saw this and took his arm. The pulled up the sleeve and saw bitemarks. ‘Anything else?’ Paul just pointed at his leg. ‘Nothing special, really.’ ‘And how did Tord fall?’ Paul sighed. ‘After he bit me, I had let go, so I jumped to grab him by his feet. I keep forgetting how, how weak he- his arm is.’ Patryck rubbed his back. ‘It’s alright. Since I’m already up, who don’t I make us some soup?’ Patryck grabbed a can of tomato soup from the tent. ‘Sounds good to me!’ Paul licked his lips.

And that all happened before the trio called.


	9. Hostility

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yay also long!

The trio all came back together at Edd’s apartment, where they all sat down at the kitchen table. ‘So, Tom, have you thought about it?’ Tom nodded. ‘And your answer?’ ‘Didn’t change.’ Edd sighed, not wanting to get angry at his friend. ‘And you?’ Tom asked Edd. ‘I still think that we need to help Tord, looking at his condition.’ 

Tom nodded and looked at Matt. ‘Seems like the decision is yours.’ Matt began to sweat. He really didn’t know what to choose. ‘Uhm, I choose…’ Matt kept quiet for a moment, thinking about all the possibilities. Then, the vision of Tord, with half of his face gone and without his right arm, came back into his head. ‘We can’t really leave him there to die, can we?’ 

Edd smiled at his friend. ‘I never really wanted to kill him, Matt, but he literally tried taking over the world. What other choice did I have?’ Tom said in an annoyed voice. Edd shook his head. ‘That’s in the past now. Let’s just call the guys.’ Before he grabbed his phone, Matt pulled at his hoodie softly and pointed towards the clock. It was already getting late. ‘Yea, you’re right, we’d better not call them now. They might be sleeping already.’ Edd sighed and sunk back in his chair. ‘I’ll just text them, then I probably won’t wake them up if they are asleep.’

Back at where Paul, Pat and their old boss lived nowadays, they had agreed to taking turns to look after their friend while the other slept. They would both watch over him twice, while doing something like reading a book or doing something else, that still made them able to watch over Tord. 

Patryck volunteered to stay awake first. He had taken some books that he bought when they left the army base and has already re-read most of them a couple times. Some of them, he kept in the back of the car for when he really got sick of the other ones. Luckily, their car was very big. He couldn’t work on his laptop, as you don’t have electricity a forest. He repaired his jacket he bought once with some thread he got in the first-aid kit, and also repaired Paul’s while he was at it. Yes, he was tired, oh he was tired, but he still had to wait half an hour until it was Paul’s turn. He checked if Tord was sleeping, and luckily, he was. Very well, it seemed. They had taken many batteries with them, but they still wanted to be careful to not use too many. So, most of the time, the only light came from a small campfire.

He looked at the fire as he sat in front of it, enjoying the warmth. Paul had gotten enough wood for the whole night, so they wouldn’t get cold. Overall, it was going to be a boring night. Once it was finally Paul’s turn, Patryck felt exhausted from the whole day. He softly woke up his friend, who groaned but got up, grabbed his jacket and sat outside, next to the fire. Patryck laid down his head and in a couple minutes, was fast asleep. 

Paul was looking into the forest from his spot next to the campfire, until he heard some muttering coming from Tord’s tent. He got closer but didn’t open it yet. He listened closely and heard movement from the tent. He heard the tent being opened and a second later, saw Tord’s head peeking out. He saw Paul and quickly dove back into his tent, closing the zipper. Paul sighed and opened the zipper again. He saw Tord with his arms hugging his legs, sitting on his pillow. ‘What do you want…’ he said in an uninterested tone. ‘You were awake, I wanted to check on you, that’s all.’ Tord sighed. ‘Try to get some more sleep, please.’ Tord shook his head. ‘I don’t want to stay here anymore. It’s been too long. I’m getting sick of, of all of this!’ He gestured with his hands to his surroundings. ‘Yes, but you can’t leave, and absolutely not without letting us know. Pat would freak out and would scold me for half an hour.’ He rubbed the back of his head, chuckling a bit. ‘Just get out of my tent,’ Tord looked away from Paul. 

When Paul didn’t move for a couple seconds, Tord added ‘One eye.’ He knew that that hurt Paul a lot. Paul reached with his hand to the bandage on his right eye. He clenched his fist. This was not the Tord he knew. No, this isn’t his old boss. This is an annoying little brat. Paul stood up and sat down next to the campfire, putting some more wood in it. Tord closed his tent and laid down, trying to get some sleep. He knew that Paul would watch over him the rest of the night, so he decided it was useless to try escape now. Outside, Paul was trying to keep his calm, knowing tonight would be a long night.

The next morning, as the sun started coming up, Patryck woke up after the long night. He could see Paul still sitting outside, but he has already fallen asleep. They had both stayed outside twice and it seemed like Paul had been busy. He was laying next to the remains of the fire, with a book laying on his belly. Pat sighed and looked at his phone. Maybe those three had called when he was asleep. He turned it on and saw that he had a message. He opened it, and the message said: “Alright, we decided, and we’ll help you. Tell us what we have to do.” Patryck sighed in relief and let his head fall on his pillow. After laying there for about a minute, he decided to check on Tord. He was still sleeping, luckily, and Patryck started making breakfast. 

They didn’t have much left, as Pat didn’t have enough time to buy anything the day before. He took out his phone and replied to Edd’s message. “We don’t have much food; can you get us some?” After he send the message he looked through their tent, looking if he maybe still had something. Luckily, they had a can of beans left. Patryck sighed, he knew Tord hated beans, but it was all they had left. He made a small fire and warmed up the beans in a pan. In the meantime, Paul had woken up. He sat next to Patryck and rummaged through his jacket, only to look at Patryck again. ‘Do you have another pack of cigarettes?’ Patryck shook his head. ‘Sorry, it was your last package.’ Paul looked in all the pockets and couldn’t find any more. He had smoked up his last one while looking over Tord. ‘Shit…’ 

‘Hey, buckle up, guess what happened.’ Paul looked up at his friend. ‘What?’ Patryck handed his friend his phone and smiled widely. Paul read the message and sighed. ‘Does this mean we don’t always have to take care of Tord?’ Patryck nodded and Paul smiled. ‘Finally. These guys are my heroes.’ ‘How come? Did something happen tonight?’ Paul shook his head. ‘Nothing special. Tord was just being a real pain.’ Patryck nodded and asked a couple seconds later: ‘Is it about your eye?’ Paul looked away. ‘It’s stupid, don’t bother.’ Patryck shook his head. ‘No, I completely understand. I don’t know how it feels to lose an eye, but I’m sure it’s not a pretty experience.’ Paul nodded. He hated it that he was blind from one eye. He had to focus on his left eye, or most he would see was black. Depth was something he had problems with, just as balance sometimes. 

He shook the thought away and looked at what Patryck was making. ‘Beans, huh.’ ‘We don’t have anything else. I don’t know how we’ll get Tord to eat it.’ Paul stood up. ‘Why don’t we look what the forest has to offer!’ Patryck hesitated for a moment. ‘You know that lots of plants can be poisonous, right?’ Paul nodded but looked confident. ‘I know some mushrooms that are edible, like penny bun and sweet tooth. And if you boil nettles, you can eat it without problems!’ Patryck sighed. ‘Alright then, chef, but we’ll have to stay close to Tord. And we both have to know the plant before using it.’ And with that, they went searching for Tord’s breakfast. 

They found milk thistle, dandelions, violets and some grapes. All of the first three plants’ leaves didn’t need to be boiled, so they decided to make a nice salad for Tord. They put the grapes on top and continued making the beans for themselves. While they were eating, Tord woke up. He crawled out of the tent and looked at his friends. He could smell the beans and had the urge to go back into his tent, but Paul beckoned him to come closer. Tord sighed and got out of his tent, looking at what they wanted. They handed him the ‘salad’ and he stared at it for some time. He took a fork and tried a bite. It wasn’t as good as he hoped, but when he looked at the can of beans, he decided that it could have been worse. 

They ate in silence until Patryck got a message from Edd. “Alright, be there in half an hour. Don’t know the way through the forest. Almost got lost yesterday.” Patryck quickly replied. “Paul will pick you up at the side of the forest. Thanks again.” He looked at Paul. ‘You’ll pick the three up, they don’t know the way. They’ll come in half an hour.’ Paul sighed but nodded and the continued eating. After they were done, Tord had nothing to do, so he used a pointy rock to try and sharpen a stick. It didn’t really work, but he was busy at least. 

Paul went to pick up the trio, as promised, and Patryck was left with Tord. He kept watching as Tord tried to sharpen the stick, thinking that maybe, just maybe, he would attack him when he didn’t look out. Patryck told him that Edd, Matt and Tom would come, in the hope that he would not freak out later. Tord yelled at him, telling him that he never wanted to see them again. Patryck said that they were already coming, and that they wouldn’t hurt him. Unless if he hurts them first of course. Tord muttered something under his breath and got back to “sharpening” his stick.


	10. Agression and violence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oops this is also very long enjoy! (Like really long, like 3.5 pages in word with font size 11 and all other default settings, like yee)

Tom didn’t want to go, and after trying very hard to get him to go with them, they finally managed to get him with them. If he would not come with them, Matt would keep him up all night, telling him about his novelty toy collection. They already punished Tom that way once, and he really didn’t want that to happen again. 

Once they reached Paul, they all walked through the forest. Edd and Tom tried to remember every turn they took, as Matt was just looking around, not really paying attention. Once they reached the clearing, Patryck waved at them, beckoning them to come closer. He had taken away Tord’s stick, as he might try to harm them with it. Tord didn’t really care; it wasn’t a good weapon at all. 

Paul walked with them towards Patryck, and Edd held up a plastic bag he had been holding. ‘This should be enough for a day or two. Soup, hamburgers, everything you might need.’ Paul gratefully took over the plastic bag and put it in the bigger tent. 

‘So, uhm, what do we do?’ Edd still didn’t know how they could help their old friend. ‘Well, first of all, someone must be with him at all times.’ Pat looked around to see Tord still sitting on the ground, ripping apart some leaves out of boredom. ‘It would also be good for him to get some distraction. Right now, he is not happy at all. He feels betrayed, locked up. We need to make him feel safe, then we can work on his other problems. We thought, since you were his friends once, you may know something to cheer him up. What he likes and doesn’t like, something like that.’ Edd nodded, Matt looked at Tord and Tom just sighed. Tord was trying to block out the sound of his old friends talking, but couldn’t. He got frustrated and wanted to get away, but knew he couldn’t. They were with too many. He didn’t have a weapon. He didn’t have anything to protect himself with. They were talking about him as if he wasn’t there. 

He finally got enough of it. He stood up and turned around, looking at his old “friends” with fire burning in his eyes. He stood in between Patryck and Paul and looked Tom in the “eyes”. He returned the glance and Tord clenched his teeth. Tom wasn’t afraid of him. Not now, with how wounded he was. None of the trio wanted to say anything to Tord. They didn’t know how he would react, as he has clearly been unpredictable. Edd looked at Pat and Paul and could see that they had some bruises on their face and hands. Probably because of Tord, he thought. 

It was quiet for an awkward amount of time, until Matt broke the silence. ‘So, Todd, h, how are you doing?’ He forced a smile on his face. Tom whispered in Matt’s ear that his name was Tord, and not Todd. ‘Tord, sorry.’ Tord shook his head. ‘Why did you listen to Pat and Paul and come here, I really don’t get it.’ Edd looked at Tord. ‘Just look at yourself, Tord. You are wounded, you live in the woods and you are not the Tord we once knew. It really hurts me to see you like this. Yes, I am still angry at what you did to us, but we could make it right again. We can fix you!’ 

Tord chuckled when he heard that. ‘Fix me? Hah, don’t make me laugh. You can’t fix what’s already broken, Edd. It’s too late now. I don’t care about you guys, I wouldn’t care if you got shot in the head, or fell from a 100-ft. building. I wouldn’t care if you drowned. I wouldn-‘ Pat put his hand on Tord shoulder. ‘You’re rambling again,’ Paul said. Tord pushed Pat’s hand off and shot an angry glare at Paul. ‘I don’t care and you know that. Heck, do you even know me?’ He put his hands in his pockets and looked away. 

‘Why don’t you guys go talk things out,’ Pat tried. ‘We’ll give you some privacy. But if something happens, you can just yell our names, alright?’ Edd nodded first, Matt followed his example, and Tom grunted. Tord stayed quiet and looked at the trio. Patryck took Paul with him and it went quiet. 

‘Can I just sit this one out?’ Tom asked. Edd grabbed him by the arm so that he would not walk away. ‘No, you’re staying.’ The trio looked at Tord, who had now sat down on the ground. ‘I’m tired of all of this,’ he muttered. Edd sunk down and sat on his knees. ‘Tired of what?’ Tord clenched his fists. ‘All of this, Paul annoying the shit out of me, Pat who locks me up here, this whole forest, don’t you think you’ll get sick of it after more than a week sleeping in a tent, with nowhere to go, knowing some people might want you dead?’ He pointed at Tom. 

Tom was surprised at what Tord said, not sure how to react at first. ‘Look, I didn’t want to kill you, but you left me with no choice.’ Tord looked at the ground, not believing Tom. Edd grabbed Tord’s left arm. ‘Look, Tord, we thought you were dead! I’m sure Tom felt really guilty because of all this. And I feel bad for you too. I can’t even start to understand how you feel, but I want to help you. We all do!’ 

Tom grunted and Matt sat down next to Tord. ‘Don’t touch me, Edd.’ Edd quickly pulled away his arm and Tord looked at Matt sitting next to him. ‘What do you want…’ ‘Well, I wanted to ask, a couple days ago, Edd, Tom and I went home from the zoo, and someone started shooting. That was you, right?’ 

Tord’s face turned white as he saw the shocked expressions on Edd and Tom’s faces. ‘Why did you do that?’ Matt asked, a little bit softer this time. Tord thought for a moment, not sure if he should lie or not. ‘I-it doesn’t matter, Matt.’ He pushed Matt away and stood up. He wobbled a little bit before regaining his balance. Matt had stood up by now, just as Edd. 

Tord walked towards Paul and Patryck, who were sitting on the ground and talking about something. They looked up as Tord came closer and could see that something was bothering him. ‘Everything alright, Tord?’ Patryck asked. Tord sat down in between of them, looking at the ground. ‘Why are they here…’ he asked softly. ‘They are here to help you and you know that,’ Paul answered. ‘They aren’t helping. I want them gone.’ Paul shook his head. ‘Not gonna happen. And think about it, they brought us food. Isn’t that good?’ Tord stayed quiet for a moment. ‘I guess. But maybe it is poisoned.’ Paul sighed. ‘Tord, would you rather eat the same thing you ate this morning, for the rest of your life? I don’t think so.’ 

Tord grunted and put his hands in his hair. He heard footsteps behind him and looked around to see Edd, Matt and Tom. Then Tord remembered that he still had the rock that he used to “sharpen” the stick. He grabbed it out of his pocket and threw it at them. But it missed. Tord grunted again and stood up, walking towards the other side of the clearing. Patryck followed him and left the trio with Paul. 

‘Guys, I have a small favour to ask of you.’ They all looked at Paul as he took an empty package of cigarettes out of his pocket. Edd sighed and nodded. ‘Look, I’m already smoking way less than I once did, believe me!’ ‘I’ll get it for you. Matt, Tom, will you stay here?’ Matt nodded and Tom sighed, sitting down on the ground. Matt sat down next to him and looked behind him, where Patryck was talking to Tord, while Tom talked to Paul about how annoying Tord is. Paul sighed. ‘I know, sometimes I do have the urge to just leave him, but I can’t. He was my old boss, and a good one, before all this happened. He just changed so much…’ Matt turned towards Paul and nodded at him. Paul was right. 

‘Tord, it’s alright. I understand that you don’t like them, after all that had happened, but look at yourself! You need help, Tord.’ Tord hugged his knees and looked away from Patryck. ‘Do you even care about me? Maybe you just act like you care about me, but you don’t. Wouldn’t really surprise me after all you guys have done to me…’ he rubbed his right arm. Patryck moved a little closer to Tord. ‘Of course I care about you, but you keep pushing us away! We’re scared…’ Tord looked at Patryck for a moment, feeling bad for him, but then immediately turned his head away again. No, he did not care for him, he thought to himself. 

He stood up and walked into the forest, only to be stopped by Patryck, who stood in front of him. ‘Tord, don’t, please.’ Tord quickly broke a stick from a tree and hit Patryck in the face. Tord wanted to run, but Patryck had grabbed the back of his hoodie. He grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him around. ‘Tord, calm down.’ He could see that Tord was furious, but also scared. Scared to be hurt, to be stuck here. 

Tord wouldn’t let himself get caught again. He couldn’t think straight, something that had happened a lot lately. He started kicking Patryck, who kept a hold of Tord. Tord finally got free from Patryck’s grip and grabbed a bigger stick this time. It had smaller branches coming out of the side, which could also hurt a lot. First, he hit Pat’s arm, at which he hissed. Then he started aiming for his face. Patryck was strong, but not as fast as Tord. He kept swinging the large stick at Patryck, who could only try to avoid the stick. Eventually, Patryck stumbled over some branches as he walked backwards. He hit his head on a stone and saw Tord looking at him with the stick still in his hand. His eyes were raging. 

‘I HATE YOU, I HATE YOU ALL!’ He started hitting Patryck again, who tried to get up, but failed. He protected his face with his arms and his hands, that have been stung by nettles when he fell. Suddenly, after what looked like an eternity, the hitting stopped. He moved his hands away and saw Tom holding down Tord. Matt had entered the scene with Paul close behind. Paul did not know that Tord was attacking Patryck, as he could not be seen because of the nettles and trees. 

When Paul spotted Patryck, on the ground and with blood dripping from a wound on his face, his face turned white. He ran towards Patryck and helped him up. Patryck groaned as Paul yelled at Tord: ‘Are you proud of what you’ve done?’ Tord was laying on his stomach and the left side of his face and could just see Paul’s furious expression. ‘I hate you,’ he spat out. Tom pressed Tord's face further in the ground, making sticks pierce through his skin. ‘Don’t make me have to punch you again, you piece of shit,’ Tom said loudly. Patryck was still a bit dizzy from when his head hit the rock and looked at Tord and Tom. He smiled at Tom, giving him a thumbs-up. Paul wanted to let go and let Patryck walk himself, but after Pat walked a couple steps, he wobbled a lot. ‘Uhh, can I do anything?’ Matt asked, looking at Patryck. Patryck shook his head, which made him even more dizzy. ‘N-no, it’s fine, I just need to sit down for a moment…’ Patryck looked at Tord and saw his face, filled with hate. Paul saw this and helped Patryck get out of the bushes. ‘Matt, can you stay here with Tom? I’ll be right back.’ Matt smiled, saluted at Paul and stood next to Tom. 

Patryck sat down on the ground next to the tents and took a couple deep breaths. Paul got inside their tent and grabbed the first-aid kit. Patryck had a wound on the back of his head, from when it hit the stone. The pointy parts of the stick had also made a small wound a centimetre away from his left eye. His hands felt like they were burning because of the nettles. Paul had filled a bucket of water for Patryck to put his hands in and started cleaning his wounds. He bandaged the wound on the back of his head and put a band-aid on the wound on his face. 

‘I’ll be right back.’ He muttered to Patryck, but he grabbed the sleeve of his jacket. ‘Don’t hurt him, he already doesn’t trust us. Be nice to him, please…’ Paul took a deep breath and nodded at his friend, to then walk to Tom, Tord and Matt. ‘Help him up, please,’ Paul said to Tom, who obliged. 

Tord had some blood on his face from the sticks laying on the ground, but didn’t say a thing. Paul carefully grabbed Tord by his right wrist as Tom held his left arm. Matt walked behind them, keeping an eye on Tord. Paul sat Tord down, far away from Patryck so that he couldn’t hear him. ‘Tord, look at Patryck for a second, and then tell me. Why did you do that?’ Tord did what Paul told him to do and looked at Patryck. He was now sitting with his hands in his hair after the burning sensation in his hands had faded. He was clearly stressed. 

Tord suddenly felt like he made a mistake. ‘Shit…’ He looked back at Paul who still seemed angry at him. Tord looked at the ground, not sure if he should be angry or guilty at this moment. Paul was surprised, it seemed like this whole fiasco had punched some sense in Tord’s head. ‘I-I don’t know why I did that,’ Tord muttered. Paul shook his head. ‘Neither do I.’ 

Tom was very curious as to what was happening to Tord. Matt just hoped that Patryck would be alright, so he stood up and walked over to Patryck, who was deep in thoughts. Tom decided that Tord and Paul needed some privacy, so he followed Matt. 

Matt sat down on the left side of Pat, Tom on the other. He hadn’t realised that they were there until Matt put his hand on Patryck’s shoulder. He looked to his left and saw Matt, who gave him a reassuring smile. He then looked at his right to see Tom looking in the distance at where Paul and Tord were talking. He put his hands next to him and relaxed a bit. 

After about 30 seconds of silence, Paul sighed. ‘What’s going on, Tord… Why are you acting so strange lately?’ Tord felt like he wanted to sink through the ground. ‘Don’t bother…’ ‘Tord, tell me. Please!’ Tord felt like he had a lump in his throat. 

‘I’m, I’m scared…’ He finally admitted. Paul had never thought his boss would actually be scared, so it was a big surprise to him. Tord bit his lip and Paul knew that he would not say what he was afraid of this way, so he beckoned for Patryck to come closer. 

Once Patryck arrived at the scene (he also was no longer dizzy), Paul whispered in his ear what Tord told him. Pat looked at Tord, who looked up at him, guilt clearly showing in his eyes. Tord looked away quickly, not wanting to look Patryck in the eyes. Pat sat down next to Paul and looked at his former leader. God, he was broken. Tord slowly rubbed his right arm, not sure what to say or to do. But they were waiting for him to say something, knowing it was the best way to get information out of him at the moment. 

‘I’m scared that I will get hurt again. That I would be betrayed. I thought the best way to stop that from happening, was to… To hurt you, I guess…’ Tord felt terrible. He still hated Tom and didn’t trust Matt or Edd, but how could he have ever hurt Pat and Paul? They were always so loyal to him… 

The last week suddenly felt like a blur to him. No, like a nightmare you had years ago, that still send chills down your spine, although you’ve forgotten most of it. ‘I’m sorry, Pat, Paul… I have been acting terrible to you two...’ Tord felt worthless. He covered his face with his hood. ‘Why do you even bother trying to fix me,’ he whispered. 

Patryck put the hood off of Tord’s head to get his attention. ‘Because we’ve always been there for each other,’ Paul said. ‘And because we care about you, no matter what you’ll do to us.’ Patryck added. ‘Don’t ever forget that.’ Tord felt his eyes watering, and for once, he didn’t care if he cried in front of his soldiers. No, they weren’t his soldiers anymore. They were just his friends now. 

Friends. Yes. Tord hugged Paul and Patryck as tears rolled down his cheek. ‘I’m so, so sorry. Something’s wrong with me, I don’t know what! I have caused you so much pain, I promise I will fix it. N-no matter what it takes!’ Paul and Patryck looked at each other for a moment, both surprised, but then returned the hug as Tord cried in their arms. Boy, Tord needed this. 

Matt and Tom had looked at them when it happened, and Edd had come back from the store. ‘Paul, Paul? I’ve got the-‘ He looked as Tord hugged his two friends, and how happy Paul and Pat were, and couldn’t help but smile. Seems like they got through to him. He also wondered why Patryck had a bad-aid on his face and a bandage around his head, but he decided to not disturb them. Instead, he sat down next to Matt and Tom, who explained what had happened. ‘Wait, so Tord had beaten Pat? And he just forgave him?’ Matt nodded. Edd sighed. ‘These guys are really weird…’ 

In a couple minutes, all the stress from last month or so was lifted from Tord. Patryck, Paul and Tord walked back to the other guys and Edd held up the pack of cigarettes for Paul. Patryck glanced at Paul, who scratched the back of his head. ‘I planned to pay him back, don’t worry. And it’s only one pack!’ Tord chuckled. Patryck could act really mother-y sometimes. Paul quickly got into the tent and grabbed his wallet. He knew exactly how much that would cost and gave the money to Edd, who threw the pack in the air. Paul quickly caught it and put it away in his pocket. He faked a smile at Patryck who sighed and looked at the three guys sitting on the ground. Patryck and Paul sat down, but Tord hesitated. Paul beckoned him to sit down, and when Tord was sure that the trio wasn’t out to do anything, he sat down and sighed. What will they think of me now…


	11. Admitting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom doesn't like Tord and vice versa

‘Alright, so what now?’ Tom asked. It had been quiet for a moment when Pat, Paul and Tord joined Edd, Matt and Tom, so Tom decided to break the silence. Paul and Patryck thought for a moment. Paul and Patryck looked at each other, shrugging. ‘We honestly have no idea,’ Pat finally said. Tord sat next to Paul, with Edd on his left side. Tord felt awkward when his former friends looked at him. They had changed so much over the years… Tord looked at Paul and Patryck, hoping to get some clearance of what to do. Edd put his hand on Tord’s shoulder to reassure him that everything was alright. First, Tord wanted to move away the hand, but then decided not to. ‘I think the best for Tord is to go with you three, as I know he doesn’t like being here.’ 

But before he was even done talking, Tord shook his head. Staying with those three, or even just with Tom, sounded like a terrible plan to Tord. He’d rather stay here with the people he could trust, and not with the people that may want to kill him. Patryck looked at Tord, who shook his head, clearly nervous, and asked ‘You don’t want to?’ Tord shook his head once more, faster this time. Edd had put his hand off of Tord’s shoulder and looked at the others awkwardly. Patryck cleared his throat ‘Alright then, I won’t force you. If you ever change your mind, you can tell us. But for now, it seems like we’ll stay here for some time. So, Tord, do you have something that you need? Like an extra pillow or blanket?’ Tord thought for a moment, then shook his head. ‘No, I’m fine.’ Patryck nodded. ‘Good, I think me and Paul don’t need anything right now, right?’ He looked at Paul who shrugged. ‘Nothing that I know off! Oh, maybe something like a book something to kill time. Maybe a pack of cards, I know a lot of games we can play!’ 

Paul’s eyes were shining. Pat knew why, Paul was really good at card games. Even if he didn’t win, he always enjoyed it, so Patryck nodded. ‘Yea, something to kill time would always be welcome. But don’t feel like you’re forced too!’ Patryck quickly added. Edd nodded, he still had a pack of cards somewhere. ‘So, what do you guys do here all day?’ Tom asked. Paul took a deep breath. ‘Well, most of the things we did were talking, making food, repairing stuff and sleeping, but also some other things like reading and sometimes going to a shop if really needed.’ 

Then Edd realised something. ‘Guys, do you even shower?’ He snickered. Paul pointed at somewhere in the forest. ‘We’ve got a stream there, and Pat won’t go anywhere without shampoo, so we’re good.' Patryck glanced at Paul. ‘I don’t take my shampoo everywhere.’ Paul shook his head. ‘Lies,’ he chuckled. ‘Says the one that can’t go one day without a cigarette,’ Patryck said, crossing his arms. He won that one. Paul grunted. ‘I already smoke way less than I once did, Pat,’ he muttered. Tord snickered, just like Edd. Matt laughed at the two men, and Tom nudged him with his elbow to stop. 

When Matt had stopped laughing, they all looked at Patryck and Paul again. It was quiet for a moment, until Patryck raised his hand. ‘Let’s do a little question-round. Everyone can ask one person a question, so we all get some clearance on the situation.’ Paul sniffed. ‘Where’d you learn that? Preschool?’ Patryck shook his head. ‘No, Paul, wrong. Kindergarten. So, who wants to start?’ 

Edd raised his hand. ‘So, I have a question for Tord. Why did you want to take over the world?’ That hit hard on Tord and Paul and Patryck saw it on his face. ‘I-I wanted to have all the power, to be able to do whatever I wanted.’ He looked at his hands and continued. ‘If I ruled the world, I could make my own rules. I could do everything without people trying to stop me. And, that feeling of power, when I lead my army, felt so, so great. Like nothing could stop you.’ 

He clenched his hands to fists. ‘I know how I felt when Matt, Tom, you and I joined the army. We were with so many, nothing could stop us!’ His eyes were shining, but when he looked at Tom, Matt and Edd, he looked away. ‘But, I’ve discovered that you can’t have everything go your way…’ He slowly rubbed his right arm as the glimmer in his eyes faded.

It was quiet for a moment and Paul put his hand on Tord’s shoulder. He and Pat were proud that he told the truth. Tom stared at him, his black eyes clearly angry. ‘My turn, this is for Paul. Is the Red Army really disbanded or is it all a lie, just like the fake picture of Tord being dead?’ Paul shook his head. ‘The Red Army is no more. Promise.’ Tom was satisfied. ‘Good.’ 

After a couple seconds, Matt raised his hand. ‘Tord, earlier today, I asked you a question.’ Tord’s face went white. ‘What question?’ Patryck asked. ‘Well, a couple days ago, we got home from the zoo, and somebody started shooting. That was Tord, I’m sure. But, why did you do that?’ Tord bit his lip. He looked at Paul and Patryck, who were worried about what Tord will say. Paul wanted to say that Tord can pass this question, but Patryck stopped him. ‘No, Paul, it’s important for Tord to take this step,’ he whispered, ‘If something goes wrong we can always step in.’ Paul didn’t want to have to step in. And Patryck was already wounded, Paul wouldn’t have him get hurt more. 

Matt waited for Tord to answer, but when he didn’t say anything, Edd started speaking. ‘Tord, tell us, we have the right to know. Just tell us.’ Tom kept his gaze on Tord, trying to find clues in every movement he made. ‘Tord,’ he growled, but before he could say anything else, Tord stood up. ‘I tried to KILL you, didn’t you see? I wanted to get rid of you. It’s one of the only things I had in my mind this month. I wanted you gone, whatever it took. Happy now?’ 

Paul and Patryck looked at the ground as Edd and Matt looked at them, shock written on their faces. Tom wasn’t surprised though. ‘Guys, we’re leaving.’ He said as he stood up. Tord clenched teeth and pulled the hood over his head to try and hide his face. ‘Do what Tom said. Leave.’ Edd stood up and took a step closer to Tord. Matt kept staring at Tord. ‘You really want us dead?’ he whispered, just loud enough for Tord to hear it. ‘Yes, I was sure you wanted to kill me after all that happened. Mostly Tom though. The fucking bastard…’ 

The last thing, he muttered, as he held his right arm. Tom was furious. ‘We thought you were dead,’ he hissed under his breath. ‘I almost felt sorry for you, as I saw that fucking fake photo that Patryck made,’ he said as he pointed at Pat. ‘Why did I fucking miss!’ he said as he walked closer to Tord. He, in response, ran towards the edge of the clearing and into the forest. Paul and Patryck had jumped up and followed Tord, who kept running despite repeatedly getting hit by sticks. Pat was in the front and Paul followed, who kept stumbling because of only having one eye. ‘Tord!’ He and Patryck yelled. The forest was big, and without noticing, Paul and Pat just ran around the clearing while chasing Tord. He had already grabbed a big stick, somewhat like the one with which he had beaten Patryck, and he ran towards Tom. 

‘Fucking bastard!’ He yelled. Paul had fallen over some roots and Pat helped him up, but Paul was very dizzy. Pat doubted if he should go after Tord or help his friend, but then decided that Matt and Edd would stop Tord and Tom. 

As soon as Tord had reached Tom, he swung the branch, wanting to hit Tom in the face. But he ducked and punched Tord in the stomach. Tord groaned and took a couple steps back, then looked at Tom, who had steam coming from his ears. Before Tord could react, he was punched in the face by Tom, and dropped his “weapon”. Tord growled and as he tried punching Tom, he got kicked and fell face-first into the ground. He felt on his right arm and yelled out in pain. Tom picked him up at his hoodie until Tord looked at him. ‘You will never hurt me and my friends again,’ he whispered as he threw Tord away. 

He landed on his back and hit his head on the ground, which made him very dizzy. He looked up at Tom, who was now standing over him. ‘Fucking kill me then,’ he managed to spat out, blood coming from his mouth. Tom grabbed his throat and started strangling him. He tried to remove Tom’s hands, but wasn’t strong enough. Matt and Edd stared at Tom and Tord, but couldn’t seem to move. Should they help? Tord had tried to kill them, he admitted it himself. 

After a short time, Tord’s body began to relax and Tom stopped strangling him. Tord was still breathing, but didn’t move. Suddenly, Tom was pushed off of Tord and pinned to the ground. He was laying on his stomach and couldn’t see who was holding him, but he knew it had to be Paul or Patryck. 

‘T-Tord, wake up!’ Patryck was sitting down next to Tord, holding his head up. ‘Pat, calm down, check if he’s breathing!’ Paul yelled. ‘Y-yes, of course,’ Patryck quickly replied, putting his head on Tord’s chest. ‘Thank god…’ 

‘Why did you do that?’ Paul yelled at Tom from above him. ‘You could have killed him!’ ‘He tried killing us first, remember? And I never tried killing him. It was self-protection, nothing more. Now get off of me!’ Paul grunted and got off Tom, who quickly jumped up and wiped the grass off his pants. Paul walked over to Patryck and Tord and sat down next to Pat. ‘Shit,’ he whispered, seeing a stream of blood coming out of his mouth. Matt and Edd had come closer and looked at Tord’s unconscious body and then at Tom. ‘Tom!’ Edd yelled. Matt looked at Paul and Patryck and felt ashamed. ‘I-I’m sorry that I didn’t stop Tom…’ Paul shook his head. ‘I saw it, you were shocked, it doesn’t matter.’ Pat sighed and looked at Paul. ‘I’ll put him in his tent,’ Patryck said as he stood up with Tord laying in his arms.


	12. Hugs, cheese and cigarettes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phew that was scary. Wait Paul really? -_- Why Paul can't it wait...

Paul put his hand in his hair. ‘Can’t Tord ever try to not get in a fight…’ He stood up and walked to the edge of the clearing, sitting down and lighting a cigarette. He relaxed a bit and looked at the trio standing in the clearing. Edd was yelling at Tom and Matt hadn’t moved from his spot. They were good people, he knew it. Tom was a different story, though…

‘Tom, listen to me, you can’t just strangle someone! We already thought that we lost Tord, and now you made us think he was dead!’ Edd grabbed Tom by his hoodie, making him look Edd in his eyes. ‘Tom, we could make it right again, but only if you stop acting like this. We really can’t have you beating and strangling Tord, he needs us!’ Tom looked away from Edd and sighed. 

‘I know, but what if he goes back to his old habits…’ Edd released Tom and put his hands on his shoulders. ‘Then we’ll try again, because that’s what friends do. Please, Tom.’ Tom sighed and looked at his friend. ‘You’re right, I guess… I’ll try.’ Edd smiled at his friend and suddenly hugged him. Tom was surprised, but pat Edd on the back. ‘Alright, alright, you can let go now…’ Edd wanted to let go when Matt suddenly embraced both of them. 

‘Yay! Say, why are we hugging?’ Edd snickered. They let go and looked in the direction of Tord’s tent, as Patryck just walked out. Paul was done with his cigarette and walked towards Patryck. ‘He isn’t fatally wounded and his arm is still alright, but he hasn’t woken up yet. It often doesn’t take long until someone wakes up after something like this…’ 

Patryck glanced at Tom as he walked closer. Tom scratched the back of his head and sighed. ‘Alright, I kinda screwed up there, I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.’ Patryck was still angry, but decided it was best to stay friendly now. ‘Of course, it’s alright. If Tord wakes up, you can better tell him that though.’ 

It was silent for a moment until Paul’s belly rumbled. Patryck glanced at him and Paul smiled awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. Patryck grabbed the bag with food that they got from Edd and looked through it. He grabbed the bread and cheese (which was already cut in slices) and put it on a tree trunk that they used as a table. He put a slice of cheese on a piece of bread and put another on top of it, handing it to Paul. 

He chuckled. ‘I can make my own lunch, mom,’ Patryck smiled. ‘No, you will put the whole pack of cheese on it and when Tord want something and discovers that you’ve eaten it all, will yell at you. You’d deny it at first, and then tell him not to judge you. These things have happened so many times that I’ve memorised how it goes. Sad, right?’ 

Paul looked away and took a bite of the bread. Patryck turned towards the trio. ‘And that, my friends, is how you get him quiet. Thank me later.’ He stuck up his thumb and Edd gave him a thumbs-up back. Tom was impressed, and Matt was snickering. Patryck made some bread for himself and asked if Edd, Matt and Tom wanted some, but they declined. They weren’t that hungry as they had eaten after going to the store. 

After they were done eating, Patryck got up to wait for Tord to wake up. He opened the tent and sat next to the entrance. Paul came and sat down on the other side while Matt, Edd and Tom were talking. Suddenly, they heard a gasp coming from Tord’s tent. ‘Let me go!’ Patryck and Paul looked inside and saw Tord grabbing at his neck. When Tord realised that no one was strangling him anymore, and that he could breathe again, he was very confused. He was also dizzy and had a headache. 

‘Tord, it’s alright, calm down!’ That was Patryck. What was Patryck doing here? He opened his eyes and saw the top of his tent. Where was Tom? Why was he in his tent? His head spun as he didn’t remember anything. He was just laying there, on the ground, with Tom strangling him! He put his hand over his eyes and tried calming his breathing. After about 10 seconds, he slowly sat up, looking at Pat and Paul. ‘Guys, what happened?’ ‘You fainted because of a lack of oxygen. Tom also wants to say something.’ Paul said. ‘My head hurts, can it wait?’ Patryck shook his head. ‘Sorry Tord, it’s important.’ Tord sighed and slowly got out of the tent, with Paul and Patryck following him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is called "Sorry's and fries (and Matt being adorable)"


	13. Sorry’s and fries (and Matt being adorable)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay a not so depressing chapter! *Pats herself on the back* I did gut.

Tord walked towards Tom, still a bit dizzy but not showing it. Edd pushed Tom forward and Tom held out his hand. Tord was surprised. ‘I’m sorry, okay, I shouldn’t have done that. These dorks here really want me to be nice to you, and I don’t think I’ll get out alive if I don’t listen to them. I still don’t like you though.’ Tord looked at Edd and Matt, who encouraged him to shake Tom’s hand. He also felt a little push in his back from Patryck. He sighed and took Tom’s hand. ‘Alright then.’

‘Yay!’ Matt suddenly yelled, causing everybody to flinch. ‘Don’t do that!’ Tom yelled. Edd snickered as Matt apologised. Then Edd realised something. ‘Guys, we weren’t done with the whole question-round thingy.’ ‘You’re right,’ Patryck said, ‘Well, I don’t really have a question. Paul, do you?’ He looked at Paul while he was thinking. ‘Not really a question, more a request. Can you guys get some bandages? We don’t have much left.’ Edd nodded and they all looked at Tord. ‘Well, you got a question, Tord?’ Paul asked. Tord thought for a moment, then finally had a question he wanted answers on. 

‘Well, it’s not really for one person, but all of you.’ Everybody looked at each other and they all agreed. ‘What do you think of me? I want honest answers.’ Silence. Tom spoke up first. ‘I don’t like you, like at all. It was not my intention to kill you, though.’ Tord nodded. He expected that. Edd was next. ‘I feel like we could be friends again, if all of us try. I think you have suffered enough.’ Tord was surprised at this. He felt bad for him? After what he’d done? ‘I’m not sure how I think about you,’ Matt admitted. ‘I’m still a bit angry at what you did, but I also think that we can still fix everything.’ 

Tord looked at Paul and Patryck. They stayed quiet for a moment. ‘Now?’ He crossed his arms and grinned. ‘I’m waiting…’ Patryck decided to go first. ‘I don’t see you as our leader anymore. More as a close friend, I think. I-I feel responsible, as I am the one bringing you here and putting you through all this… I care about you.’ Tord knew it was hard for Patryck to admit that. 

He suddenly remembered when he had beaten Pat. He had never hit him back, even though Tord attacked him! Tord felt really bad again, but shook that feeling away and turned towards Paul. ‘S-same as Pat,’ he answered, but Patryck knew it wasn’t completely right. Paul could get really angry at Tord and sometimes, if he had the chance, would not be afraid to hurt him when needed. But Patryck didn’t say that, and instead kept quiet. It was best Tord didn’t know that. 

Tord nodded. ‘Alright then, what do we do now?’ Edd cleared his throat to get everybody’s attention. ‘Why don’t we all go and eat something at a restaurant? I know that Tord hasn’t had lunch and I’d like something to eat too.’ Matt jumped into the air, ‘Yay, food!’ and Tom agreed. Paul and Patryck looked at Tord, who hesitated but then nodded. As long as Paul and Pat went with him, it was alright. 

‘Yea, we can all go! I’m starving.’ He intentionally said the “all” part, not wanting to be left alone with his “old friends”. Paul nodded and Patryck gave them all a thumbs-up. Matt ran away to the restaurant, but then walked backwards towards the rest. ‘Uhm, you can go first,’ He blushed, he didn’t know the way out of the forest. Edd shrugged and walked ahead of the group, as he had already memorised which way to go. Tord could feel his belly rumbling and couldn’t wait to finally get a good meal. 

Edd was in the front, followed by Matt, who was followed by Tord. Behind him was Paul, then Patryck, and lastly, Tom. Tom talked with Patryck, asking about things like how it was to be in the Red Army. Tord was quiet, just like Paul, unless Patryck or Tom asked him anything. Matt was excitedly talking to Edd about how amazing this was, and Edd didn’t have a chance to speak. 

Once they reached the diner which Matt had chosen, they all went inside. Paul, Patryck and Edd would order for the rest of them, and Matt was assigned with getting a good place to sit. Matt claimed the best place and once the food was ready, he waved frantically at his friends, a big smile on his face. Tom, Edd and him sat on one side of the big table, with Pat, Paul and Tord on the other. Tord had, of course, ordered the most food of all. He was also the first one to start eating. Patryck softly tapped his shoulder. ‘Tord, don’t eat too fast, or you’ll throw up.’ Tord quickly swallowed his food and stuck out his tongue. ‘Whatever you say, mom.’ That was really a favourite from Tord and Paul. Paul put up his hand and Tord gave him a high-five. Patryck chuckled nervously and took a bite of his burger. 

In the beginning, the only thing being heard from that table was the 6 eating, until Paul was done with his fries. ‘So, where do you guys live exactly? Didn’t you live together?’ Edd swallowed and Tom sighed. Matt didn’t hear it, he was too busy trying to get the last bit of his milkshake out of the cup. ‘Well,’ Edd started, ‘we have a new place now. Our old house kinda blew up. Literally.’ ‘Didn’t Tord tell you guys?’ Tom asked. Paul scratched his neck nervously. ‘Well, ever since the whole -accident-, we haven’t really talked that much with each other.’ He looked at Tord, who was now staring into his cup, making circles with the straw. He took another fry but didn’t take his eyes away from the cup. Paul sighed. Better not have said that. 

‘What do you guys do, now that the Red Army is disbanded?’ Edd asked. Paul and Patryck looked at each other for a moment. ‘Well, were pilots once, but that kinda… backfired so that’s a no-go,’ Paul said as he rested his head on his hand. If only he still had his right eye… 

Tord had stopped staring at his cup and was almost done with his fries, when Matt jumped up again. ‘We can go show you guys around if you want to!’ Edd smiled at Matt and Tom shrugged. Tom didn’t admit it, but he was really impressed by Paul and Pat’s stories. They, of course, accepted immediately, and Tord nodded. What else did he have to do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After this, they'll be going to the park which Matt is really excited about!


	14. Wow Paul calm down bruh (and Matt is still being adorable)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't know I have something with writing people with phobia's. 
> 
> Cynophobia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The one advantage of having no consistant uploads whatsoever is that I can just decide to upload 2 chapters on 1 day because WHO CARES I DON'T YOU CAN'T JUDGE ME. 
> 
> Well, let's go on, shall we?

So, after they were all done, Matt showed them around. When he practically dragged Paul and Patryck into the park, Paul started shaking. Matt didn’t see this, of course, and Tord was deep in thoughts, but Tom had noticed. He wanted to ask what was wrong, but Matt had already ran off with the ex-soldiers. 

Matt sat his new friends down and sat down next to them, pointing at all the dogs. Paul started sweating and shook more and more as dogs got closer. Tom sat next to him and asked what’s wrong. Paul looked at Patryck quickly, but he was distracted because of Matt telling him a bazillion stories. He looked back at Tom but couldn’t say anything. He jumped up as he heard a dog bark and he looked in the direction of the sound. He saw a beagle barking at its owner and Paul started to panic. 

Edd had caught on now and stood behind Paul, his hand on his shoulder. ‘Paul, what’s going on?’ He didn’t move. He stared at the dog, that was still barking, and looked to his right when he heard another dog. It was a Labrador retriever this time. And then a Yorkshire terrier. It was getting too much for him. Edd quickly disturbed Patryck and Matt’s conversation and pointed at Paul. 

‘Shit,’ Patryck half-yelled as he quickly stood up and sat on his knees in front of his friend. Paul looked at Patryck but kept on panicking. ‘P-pat, I can’t…’ Patryck quickly grabbed Paul by his jacket and practically dragged him out of the dog park. 

About a hundred meters away from the park, he sat his friend down. ‘Paul, it’s alright, there are no dogs anymore,’ Patryck said, trying to calm his friend down. The others had arrived a little later, looking at the shaking figure on the ground. ‘T-they’re gonna kill me, Pat, kill me, bite my throat and, and rip my lungs out and eat my eye and, and, I-I can’t-‘ 

Tord had put his hands on Paul’s shoulders and looked him in the eye. ‘Paul, you’re rambling again.’ Paul laughed a little, putting his hands in his hair, closing his eyes. ‘I-I know, and I d-don’t care…’ 

Patryck had sat down next to Paul, who’s shaking slowly became less. Tord kept his hands on his shoulders and Matt sat on Paul’s other side, hoping to comfort him. Edd and Tom awkwardly stood there, while random strangers walked passed them. Paul’s breathing calmed down a little and Tord put his hands off his friend’s shoulders. He sat down in front of him, not caring if he was in the way. They were sitting on a sidewalk, and another dog and its owner came closer. Edd and Tom came in action, politely asking the women to walk around for their friend. She completely understood and took another route. Some people almost stumbled over Tord but he didn’t move. 

Paul finally opened his eyes when Patryck hugged him. ‘Shh, it’s alright, just focus on breathing…’ Paul gladly obeyed and took deep breathes until his breathing was almost back to normal. He was still shaking a little but stood up anyway. He smiled at his friend, embarrassment clearly written on his face. Tord, Patryck and Matt all stood up. Matt asked what happened and Paul’s face grew even redder. Patryck knew Paul found it hard to talk about it, so he answered for him. ‘Paul had some… bad experiences with dogs so to say.’ Matt nodded and muttered ‘Sorry’ when Paul put his hands on his shoulder. ‘It’s alright, y-you couldn’t have known…’ Matt smiled a little bit and Paul smiled back. ‘So, we gonna continue our tour?’ Paul asked. Matt’s eyes started shining again and he grabbed Paul by the hand, taking another route to avoid the dog park. But Matt would probably forget Paul’s phobia again though...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's a little secret: Tord will also have something he's afraid of. But you didn't hear that from me.


	15. You really need to look at that buddy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Short, I know. Next one will be big.

They passed some shops and looked inside a couple of them, as Edd just NEEDED that green hoodie, and Matt just COULDN’T leave that toy dinosaur in the shop. Tord and Patryck had followed Matt into the toy store, as they didn’t want him to stay there for the rest of the day and get stuck at night. Man, that would probably give him nightmares. Paul stayed behind with the others, as he KNEW it should have dog plushies that for some reason also made him scared. 

While walking through the aisles, Tord found this small otter plushie holding a shell of some sort. Patryck saw that Tord looked at it but quickly looked away when Tord looked his way. 

After some walking, they finally found Matt, holding a cute plastic dinosaur and showing it off to Tord and Patryck. Pat told Tord to go with Matt to pay for it, while Patryck would get some paper and pencils. So Tord dragged Matt to the counted, who then happily paid for it. Tord took Matt outside before he wanted to buy anything else, and Matt showed it off to Paul, Edd and Tom. A little later, Patryck came back with a plastic bag. 

They all kept walking, while Matt pointed at places and telling what they were, while still holding his dinosaur or course. They were walking towards Edd, Matt and Tom’s apartments which was close to an open field. 

Then Tord started feeling a bit weird. His stomach started hurting and he stood still, looking at the ground, and Pat, Paul and Tom stopped as well, looking at him. When Edd and Matt realised that the others had stood still, they turned around to see Tord’s face becoming pale. They came closer and Edd put a hand on his shoulder, making him look up at him. 

‘Gonna throw up,’ Tord groaned, and he quickly ran towards the grass. They all followed him as he fell on his knees and started puking. They gave him enough space and Edd and Matt turned around, covering their mouth and nose. After a while, Tord slowly stood up. Luckily, Patryck had taken a water bottle with him, so that Tord could clean his face and get the disgusting taste out of his mouth. His stomach still hurt. He sat down on a bench and focused on his breathing while the others followed. Paul and Edd sat next to him, the others surrounding the bench. 

Once he felt a bit better, he slowly stood up, not wanting to throw up again. ‘I’m good now, my stomach just hurts a little,’ he said, but not very loud. ‘Can we go back now?’ He asked Patryck. ‘Of course, sorry Matt, I think our tour is done for today.’ Matt nodded and they all went back, besides Tom and Edd. Patryck asked if he could get some medicine for Tord’s aching stomach. He wasn’t blind, he could see that Tord was in pain. Paul and the others did too. Tom and Edd quickly ran towards the nearest shop and the others continued their walk, though a bit slower than usual. 

After what felt like an eternity to Tord, they finally made it back to Paul, Pat and Tord’s tents. Tord directly went inside his tent, not speaking to the others. They decided it was best to leave him alone. 

Once Edd and Tom arrived, Patryck thanked them and slowly opened Tord’s tent. ‘Tord?’ He heard a groan from inside and decided to continue. ‘I’ve got something for your stomach.’ He scanned the package, looking for how much his former leader could have, and then took out two of the pills. ‘I’ll get you some water to swallow it down easier.’ He came back with a cup of water and handed it and the pills to Tord, who was sitting up at this moment. He took the pills and the water and swallowed it, giving an empty cup back at Patryck. He decided that it was best to leave Tord alone for now. He walked back to where Edd, Matt, Tom and Paul were talking. ‘I’ve given him the medicine, it should work quickly. Thanks again,’ he smiled at Tom and Edd. 

‘I think it’s the best that you guys go home now. It’s been a tough day for all of us, after all. Can you come here again tomorrow, say, around 10?’ Tom, Edd and Matt looked at each other and nodded. They all stood up from the grass and started walking back home. Paul laughed. ‘I had my doubts about them in the beginning, but I’m starting to like them!’ 

But Paul will have a tough night after that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not only in word count. 
> 
> (Ohhh I'm evil I want you guys to speculate yee next update will be in 1-2 days hopefully so read everything through (only if you want I won't force you))


	16. Get prepared.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the start of the next "arc" if we can call it that. Chapters 1 to 6 could be called the "Discovery arc", chapters 7 to 12 could be referred to as the "Violence arc", and 13 to 15 will be named the "Outside arc" (names may change but I think it's good as it is. Put ideas for arc names in the comments or something if you want). This arc, starting with this "preview", will be called the "Cold arc", or the "Paul is an ass" arc. You can use both of those names! (Am i making you hyped yet? No? Okay, I'm trying. Let's move on then.

It was dark. No, he was in a forest. Paul was at the edge of the clearing, looking inside the forest. Looking behind him, he could see the tents. He could see Tom, Matt, Edd and Tord talking, and they waved at him. He waved back and smiled. They were very fun to talk with. He walked closer but suddenly heard a loud -thud- and looked around. It was coming from the forest. He heard it again. He could hear branches breaking and heard more -thuds- coming from the woods, always with a small pause in between. He decided to check what it is. 

 

The further he got into the forest, the darker it got. And the louder, meaning he was getting closer. He could see Tord, so he was making that sound! But, something was not right… He ran closer and Tord looked at him, his pupils small and a hateful expression on his face. 

 

And blood. 

 

Only then did he recognise a figure laying on the ground. He felt like he wanted to throw up. Patryck’s face was covered in blood, one black eye and his cheek swollen. His hands were covered in bruises and blood and his clothes were torn, making Paul being able to look at his completely bruised body. 

 

He could finally look away and realised something was wrong. But, wasn’t Tord with the other guys? Smiling and having fun? Tord took a step forward and before Paul could do anything, Tord grabbed his right hand. He dropped the huge stick he was holding and moved his hand closer to where Paul’s eye once was. Paul couldn’t move. Tord grinned and grabbed a smaller stick, with a pointy end, and moved it backwards.

 

Then, in a quick movement, he attacked Paul’s left eye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everything is black.


	17. Abandonment: start of the Cold arc (aka Paul is an ass arc).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This might be a weird chapter. Maybe, out of place. But hopefully, it will make sense. I thought of the idea and just felt like writing in, and I've been working on it and waiting to publish this for almost a week. It kinda reflects something that happened to me once. But don't worry, I'm alright!

The rest of the day, none of the six did much. Tord had a fever and was very tired, so he spent of the time in his tent, sleeping. Paul and Patryck would try and come up with solutions for different problems, but to no avail. (Also, they played card games because Patryck bought a pack of cards for Paul and Paul totally loved it they are so precious.) Tom, Matt and Edd just stayed home, watching some movies and playing some games. 

And so the night came. Paul and Patryck were tired and Tord only came out of his tent a couple times to go to the “toilet” and tried to eat something, but it almost directly got back out. He had a fairly good night, just like the rest of the bunch. Well, except Paul and Patryck. 

For Tord’s safety, they did the same thing as last night, taking turns to watch over him. Tonight, Paul took the first turn. He was playing pyramid solitaire (it’s really fun guys trust me) when he heard a groan coming from Tord’s tent. He opened the tent and saw Tord, holding his stomach. Paul quickly got Tord’s medicine and a cup of water, then woke up Tord. He woke quickly and carefully sat up. Paul handed him the medicine and the cup without saying a thing. Tord took the medicine and gave the cup back at Paul, who asked him how he felt. ‘My stomach hurts, that’s all…’ Paul nodded and left, closing the tent. After that, Tord had been silent for the rest of the night. 

 

It was dark. No, he was in a forest. Paul was at the edge of the clearing, looking inside the forest. Looking behind him, he could see the tents. He could see Tom, Matt, Edd and Tord talking, and they waved at him. He waved back and smiled. They were very fun to talk with. He walked closer but suddenly heard a loud -thud- and looked around. It was coming from the forest. He heard it again. He could hear branches breaking and heard more -thuds- coming from the woods, always with a small pause in between. He decided to check what it is.

 

The further he got into the forest, the darker it got. And the louder, meaning he was getting closer. He could see Tord, so he was making that sound! But, something was not right… He ran closer and Tord looked at him, his pupils small and a hateful expression on his face.

 

And blood.

 

Only then did he recognise a figure laying on the ground. He felt like he wanted to throw up. Patryck’s face was covered in blood, one black eye and his cheek swollen. His hands were covered in bruises and blood and his clothes were torn, making Paul being able to look at his completely bruised body.

 

He could finally look away and realised something was wrong. But, wasn’t Tord with the other guys? Smiling and having fun? Tord took a step forward and before Paul could do anything, Tord grabbed his right hand. He dropped the huge stick he was holding and moved his hand closer to where Paul’s eye once was. Paul couldn’t move. Tord grinned and grabbed a smaller stick, with a pointy end, and moved it backwards.

 

Then, in a quick movement, he attacked Paul’s left eye.

 

Everything is black.

 

Gasping for air, Paul quickly moved his hand to his left eye, feeling if it was still there. Yes, it was. He was alright. It must have been a dream. But it felt so, so real! 

He opened the tent slightly and could see Patryck, sitting next to the remains of a fire. He remembered. They had taken turns to look after Tord, and he had watched over him twice, this was Patryck’s second turn. He could see that the sun’s already up, and Patryck was making bread for his friends, humming a song. He looked at his watch. Almost ten. Tom, Edd and Matt should be here any second. 

He thought for a moment about his nightmare, laying on his back again, hands under his head. He couldn’t get the picture of Patryck and Tord out of his head. Fucking Tord. He knew he was dangerous, and he had still taken care of him! He had also realised that Patryck had become a bit scared of him after yesterday, and he understood why.

Then he thought about the part in his dream where Tord, Matt, Edd and Tom were sitting together. Yes, that was best. He got out of the tent and walked towards Patryck, who smiled at him once he saw him. ‘Hey grumpy cat, I decided it was best to let you sleep a bit more.’ He handed him a piece of bread with cheese on it, but Paul shook his head. 

‘Tord should go with the three.’ This caught Pat off guard. ‘What? But yesterday-‘ ‘Yes, I know what I said yesterday, but I’ve changed my mind. He’s dangerous and you know it. Did you really think this was gonna be his last outburst?’ He looked at his friends, who still had the bandage around his head and the band-aid on his face. 

Pat stood up, very surprised at what Paul just said. ‘Paul, do you even know what you’re saying?’ he asked softly. Paul groaned. ‘Yes, I know what I’m saying, I want Tord to go with Edd, Matt and Tom. You know what? He can just go live on his own or something. Try and find some other idiots to take care of him, but I don’t want him here. He’s dangerous, Pat. We both know it.’ Paul didn’t even know what he was saying anymore, he just wanted him and his friend to be safe! 

Patryck was shocked when he said it. ‘Live on his own?’ He was clearly angry now. ‘On his own, with a wounded arm, food poisoning and being an unstable wreck? No Paul, you’re going too far. This is not the you that I know. You must be sick or something, maybe you have something in your eye-‘ 

He directly put his hands on his mouth when he said that. His eyes widened as he looked at the grass and then at his friend. In the meantime, Edd, Matt and Tom had arrived and were wondering what Pat and Paul were talking about. Tord has also woken up because of his friends talking. He arrived just a bit later than Edd, Matt and Tom. 

Paul stared at his friend with disgust and anger showing in his one eye. He clenched his fists but didn’t move from his spot. ‘I’ve gotten too far?’ he hissed, teeth clenching. ‘You promised never to say anything like that…’ Paul moved his hands from his mouth, taking a step closer. ‘P-Paul, I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t think about what I was saying, I really didn’t mean-‘ 

Tord stepped in between the two, looking from one to another with a fearful expression. ‘Paul, Pat, what’s going on?’ Then Paul pushed Tord aside with one hand. ‘You stay out of it!’ He yelled at the Norwegian, who scrambled backwards at the words. 

Patryck took another step forwards, and Paul reacted, doing the same thing. ‘I really didn’t mean it Paul, I’m sorry!’ Patryck wanted to put his hands on Paul’s shoulders, but he moved his hands away and then looked at Tord. He grabbed Tord’s right arm, not thinking it might hurt him, and dragged him towards his tent. ‘You’re going with Tom, Edd and Matt. Pack your stuff so you can leave.’ Patryck was pissed now. 

‘PAUL!’ He yelled, making Tom, Matt, Edd and Tord flinch. Paul quickly turned his head towards Pat. ‘You can’t force him to do that, he obviously doesn’t want to!’ Tord looked at Paul and Patryck with pleading eyes. He really didn’t want to leave, but this wasn’t the Paul he knew. He was scared of him, very scared. The hatred in his eyes was clearly showing. 

Paul let go of Tord, who rubbed his arm slightly, and walked towards Patryck. ‘He will only hurt us, don’t you see? And why are you even speaking up for HIM?’ He pointed at Tord angrily, making the red hoodied male shrink back with guilt. ‘Because I CARE about him, Paul,’ and while Patryck said that, Tord already ran inside his tent, putting some stuff in an old bag he had in there. He could hear Pat and Paul yelling at each other, and Edd, Matt and Tom trying to calm them down. After a while, they stopped trying. 

Tord came out of his tent, seeing Paul’s and Pat’s red faces. He wanted to walk towards them, but decided not to. When Patryck saw Tord, ready to leave, he pushed Paul away and ran towards Tord. ‘You don’t have to do this, you know…’ Tord shook his head, trying to keep his cool. ‘N-no, I’m alright.’ Patryck sighed. 

‘You’re scared of him, right?’ he whispered, and Tord slightly nodded. Paul was still looking at Patryck, face still red. Patryck took something from a pocket in his jacket and put it in Tord’s bag before he could see it. ‘Don’t worry, I’m sure tomorrow, he’ll be back to normal. He never stays angry for long…’ He hugged Tord who then quickly walked over to Tom, Edd and Matt. Paul saw him walking away and turned his head. Patryck looked at Paul and then waved at Tord, who was already walking away with the trio. Man, did Patryck feel terrible. Then the yelling continued.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, my parents weren't in a fight. No, they were actually the ones helping me! You can say that Pat was kinda my mother and Edd, Tom and Matt my father. Pretty weird stuff, I know. It's good to get something like this off my chest in this kind of way. I've never told people about this, although it's happened a couple weeks ago. Now everything's fine. I'm fine, my family is fine. Or, well, in it's own, weird, hectic way. :)


	18. Autophobia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanks. I didn't mean to ask for attention or anything. Just wanted to know if people still like it. (Oh, and AlizarinTheNotsoGreat, DQI and nya, thanks. Like a lot.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phobias can take over someone, even if they don't want to. But there's a cure.

They finally arrived at Edd’s apartment, and Tord immediately sat down on the couch, looking at the ground. He was deep in thoughts. Edd snapped his fingers and Tord looked up at his old friend, who was obviously worried. ‘W-what?’ he asked Edd. 

‘Have you eaten already?’ Tord shook his head. ‘Not really hungry either…’ Edd frowned. ‘I still have some bacon, do you want some?’ Tord hesitated for a moment, then nodded slightly. ‘A little bit then.’ Edd smiled and walked to the kitchen, preparing some bacon for Tord. 

Matt had sat down next to Tord by now, who had started fiddling with the strings of his hoodie. ‘Uhm, you alright Tord?’ Tord bit his lip. ‘N-nothing’s wrong. I’m alright…’ Matt sighed and sat back. ‘If you say so.’ Tord stomach still hurt a bit, but luckily not as much as yesterday. 

Tom had walked with Edd into the kitchen, and they talked in hushed voices. ‘Why did Paul act so weird today?’ Tom asked. ‘If I heard correctly, he was talking about Tord being dangerous and stuff. I have no idea why he is so angry at Pat though.’ Tom sighed and looked at Tord, who was still looking at the floor with Matt besides him who looked at the ceiling. 

‘So you’ll let him stay here for the night?’ Edd nodded. ‘Yea, what else can we do? Maybe it’ll be good for him. And he obviously didn’t want to stay with Paul, that’s for sure.’ Tom nodded softly, ‘Yea, but it’s still weird. Paul was really nice.’ ‘Yes, but think about yesterday, when Tord had beaten Patryck. It probably has something to do with that.’ Then they heard a -beep-, telling them that the bacon was ready. 

Edd took it out of the microwave and onto a plate, taking it to Tord. He put it down on the table and Tord looked up. ‘Are you sure this is okay?' Tord spoke, 'You know, because of yesterday. I don’t want to throw up again.’ Edd looked at his troubled face. ‘Does your stomach still hurt?’ he asked and Tord nodded slightly. ‘Alright then, that means you’d first have to eat something before I can give you something for your stomach. I have some medicine here but you’ll throw up if you don’t eat something first.’ 

Tord sighed and grabbed some bacon. It was still warm and it smelled good, so Tord took a small bite. It was really good! He took a couple more pieces and Edd got some medicine for his stomach. He thanked him and shortly after taking them, he felt a bit better. 

‘Is it alright if you sleep on the couch tonight?’ Edd asked him. Oh yea, he would stay here. For how long? When would he finally see Pat and Paul again? WOULD he see them again? 

‘Yea, sure, ‘s alright,’ he muttered, thinking about his two friends. Edd turned on the TV and together they watched the news. Nothing interesting, really, but Tord hadn’t actually paid any attention. 

He kept thinking about his friends, if Paul was still angry at him, how Patryck handled it, how long it may take until he can go back to them. And time and again, that one thought came back: what if he would never see them again? Every time he thought about that, he began to shake a little. The others thought it was just because of his stomach, so they didn’t question. He finally got back to reality when Matt stood up to go to the toilet. He looked at Edd, who sat next to him, and Tom, who sat on the armrest. Tord looked at the clock. 11.00. Today was gonna be a long day and he knew that. 

He rummaged through his bag, desperate to find something to not think about his friends, and suddenly saw something that he was sure he didn’t pack. His hands started to shake and the others looked at him. 

Matt just got back from the bathroom as Tord carefully picked up the item. Patryck must have put it in there before he left! He knew this thing. He had seen it yesterday, in the toy store. How did Pat know? 

‘What do you have there?’ Matt asked. Edd and Tom looked at Tord, who was holding a tiny otter plush holding a shell. ‘Hey, I’ve seen that before, it was in the toy shop!’ Matt exclaimed. Tord held it closer now, looking closely at it. Without realising it, tears started forming in his eyes. 

‘T-Tord? You alright?’ Edd had put his hand on Tord’s shoulder. Tord held the tiny otter closer and closed his eyes, making a couple tears slowly run down his face. ‘N-no…’ Edd was surprised at how Tord reacted and Matt had put his arm around Tord’s shoulder, trying to comfort him. Tom didn’t know what to think. Well, was that really a surprise? 

Tord had calmed down slightly and had stopped crying. ‘P-Pat must have bought it for me…’ Edd sighed. ‘Is that all?’ He already knew the answer. ‘No…’ Tord admitted. It was hard for him. He didn’t like acting so weak around his friends. 

‘I’m scared,’ he paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. He started shaking again when Matt asked: ‘Scared of what?’ Tord looked at the otter for a short moment and then held it closely again. ‘T-that I will never see Pat a-and Paul again…’ He tried hard to make his voice sound at least a little steady, but failed miserably. Matt shot a worried glance at Edd, who shot the same look back. Even Tom felt a little sympathy for Tord! Well, he had already felt a little pity for him when he saw him crying in Pat and Paul’s arms the last day, and when he saw Tord’s face for the first time in ages, after Tom got attacked and Tord hurt his arm. 

Tord had started sobbing again, feeling miserable. Matt held him closer, trying to comfort him. Tom was the first one to talk. ‘I’m sure you’ll see them again, they care so much about you!’ 

Tord looked up at Tom, still worried. ‘What if one of them gets hurt?’ Edd spoke next. ‘They won’t, and if they will, they’ll be alright. Because they’re strong.’ Tord shook his head. ‘But what if Paul doesn’t want to see me again? You heard how he talked about me to Patryck…’ Shit, what do they say now? ‘That won’t happen. He’s just having a bad day, that’s all…’ Matt spoke in a soft tone. 

Tord had leaned forwards and Edd had started rubbing his back, hoping it would calm him down. ‘And what if Paul sees me again, and tries to kill me?’ Wow, he must have been thinking about this a lot, Edd thought. ‘Patryck would be there for you, I am sure of it.’ ‘And what if he hurts Pat then?’ ‘Then we’ll stop Paul,’ Tom answered calmly. 

‘A-and what if you get hurt, trying to stop him?’ Tom’s eyes widened. He started to care about them again… 

Matt sighs. ‘Then we’ll be with more.’ ‘And what if he has a gun? What if he shoots all of you, if he shoots Pat and you guys?’ This time Edd tries something. ‘Tord, you’re rambling…’ Tord looked at Edd, then back at the ground. ‘Paul always says that, Edd. That’s what he always says,’ he mumbles. Shit, Edd thought, just like the others. 

Then, a miracle arrived. A miracle called Ringo. He stood at Tord’s feet, and once he mewed, Tord opened his eyes. Almost directly, he jumped on his lap. Tord moved his back backwards and Edd moved his hand away quickly. Ringo made a couple circles on his lap and then sat down. Tord let go of the otter with one hand and slowly moved his hand over to Ringo’s head. The cat was purring and once Tord started petting him his purring only became louder. Tord smiled a little and kept his eyes on that grey fluffy bundle of joy and pureness and he slowly calmed down. The other three smiled and focused on the TV again as their old friend pet Ringo, draining him from all bad emotions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> According to fearof.net, the fear of abandonment.
> 
> (Screw you wikipedia)


	19. Empty (The Hunt part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WOOOOO 200 hits! I decided to upload this earlier so it's a bit short but I hope it's good. I don't know how often I will upload, but I still love working on this project so I do try my best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also what do you think of the Cold arc / Paul is an ass arc? Be honest. I really want to know what you do/don't like. It helps me a lot. Thanks :3

After some more arguing, Paul had moved his stuff inside Tord’s tent. He had just walked off while Patryck was still talking, not bothering saying anything anymore. Patryck was at a loss. 

He walked into the forest to cool off, trying to organise everything in his head. Alright, Tord was with some people that he could trust, he had food and a place to sleep. It will be alright, he said to himself, as he had calmed down. 

He came back to the clearing and finished his breakfast. Paul had already taken the food Patryck had made for him. The rest of the day went by like a blur, to both of them. They ate apart, and whenever Patryck looked at Paul, he would look away. And sometimes, when Patryck would see Paul, he would just downright avoid him, not wanting to get another judging look getting his way. They made two separate fires to cook on, and both had to get their own wood to make it. They didn’t share a word. 

At the end of the day, Patryck took a deep breath and walked towards Paul, who was playing Patience. ‘P-Paul?’ He said softly, not wanting to startle him. Paul didn’t look up for a moment, then glances Pat’s direction. ‘What do you want,’ he said, looking back at the game he was playing. 

‘I just want to talk with you…’ Paul shook his head. ‘Go talk with Tord if you really want to. Then you guys can make as much jokes about my eye as possible.’ Patryck stayed quiet for a moment, then slowly moved his hand towards Paul’s shoulder, but he caught on. Patryck’s hand was suddenly grabbed by Paul’s and he gripped it tightly. 

‘Leave me alone!’ he yelled, startling Pat. He let go of Pat’s hand and turned around again. Patryck felt like crying. Paul has never treated him that way! He quickly got to his tent, spending the rest of the night there. 

 

It was evening and Tord had been doing fairly well. He had kept the otter in his pocket and when he felt stressed, Matt, Tom or Edd would bring him Ringo. It was time for dinner and they ate some spaghetti, and as expected, Matt made a total mess. But it was alright. When they were done with the dishes, they all sat down on the couch, doing nothing, until Tord started yawning. 

‘Tired?’ Edd asked and Tord nodded. ‘Yea, I should probably get back to my own room,’ Tom said, and he then stood up and left. Matt followed his example and left to his own apartment to get a good night’s rest. 

Edd turned off the TV and grabbed a pillow and blanket for Tord, who hadn’t moved from his spot. When Edd arrived with the blanket and the pillow, he asked Tord if something was wrong, because he kept staring at the floor. 

‘I’m alright, don’t worry…’ he muttered. Edd squinted and put the pillow and blanket on the armrest of the couch, looking for Ringo. When he finally found him, he ordered Tord to lay down. Edd handed him the pillow and blanket. Tord put the pillow under his head and put on the blanket, then put the small otter underneath the pillow. He didn’t want to be seen with that otter everywhere, it felt dumb. They would probably laugh at him. 

Once Tord was prepped, Edd put down Ringo on his stomach who purred happily at Tord. He sighed and started petting the cat, his head not really into it. He stared blankly at the wall, eventually stopping with petting. Ringo had already fallen asleep as he was tired from being dragged everywhere all day. 

‘Tord, try and get some sleep. I’ll be in my room if you need me.’ Tord nodded slightly, not really paying attention. Once Edd was gone, he carefully removed Ringo from his belly and sighed. 

He couldn’t sleep. 

He couldn’t ignore. 

He couldn’t forget. 

He couldn’t sleep because of everything that happened that day. 

He couldn’t ignore the fact that he missed his friends. 

He couldn’t forget Paul’s raging eyes. Should he go to Patryck? But what if he saw Paul? No, looking for them was no option. He took the otter from under his pillow and held it in his hand, looking at every little detail. 

“Because I CARE about him,” those words kept circling through his mind. He felt terrible. Ringo suddenly jumped on his belly again, which earned a yelp from Tord. ‘R-Ringo!’ He whispered, picking him up again and putting him on the ground. ‘Sorry buddy, not now.’ Ringo licked his paw and then walked away. 

Tord yawned and tried to get comfortable on the couch. He closed his eyes with the tiny otter still in his hands, trying to think about positive things. Paul and Pat would never leave me, I will see them again soon, I’ll be safe with Edd, Matt and Tom, those kinds of things. But he knew he was lying to himself. 

Later that night, he heard a door open. He could see Edd walking his way and he sat up. ‘Oh, did I wake you up?’ he asked, and Tord shook his head. He had been awake for a long time now, hoping he could just forget that he missed his friends. Edd could see him shaking and saw that he had cried not so long ago when he turned on the light. 

Edd sat down next to Tord, who kept shaking. ‘Tord, it’s alright, do you want to talk?’ Tord shook his head. No, he just wanted to sleep! It was so frustrating! 

‘Tord, should I get Ringo?’ Again, Tord shook his head. ‘Doesn’t help…’ he muttered. Edd frowned. ‘Does your stomach still hurt?’ ‘No,’ Tord hugged himself, not knowing what to do. Screw this, Edd thought, I’m calling Pat. 

He stood up from the couch and went to his room, grabbing his phone from his bed. He called Pat and after not very long, he heard the familiar voice whisper. ‘Why do you call? It’s almost midnight…’ Edd hesitated for a moment. ‘Tord can’t sleep and he’s very stressed, what can I do?’ Patryck thought for a moment. 

‘What sometimes works for me, is when you just talk to him. Make some jokes, comfort him a little bit, and talk about something else. He probably can’t sleep because he keeps thinking about specific things, most likely about Paul and stuff.’ Edd nodded. ‘Thanks, Pat. Don’t worry, he’s been doing fine the rest of the day. Oh, and he likes that otter you gave him.’ 

Patryck smiled on the other side of the line. ‘Good. If you need anything, just call.’ ‘I’ll remember that. Good night.’ And with that, he hung up. 

He got back into the living room, but couldn’t see Tord. He went to the bathroom, the kitchen, everywhere, but couldn’t find him. ‘Tord?’ The door of his apartment was never locked on the inside, he just remembered. 

 

Shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've now made this a series, and am working on another story as well, which will have to do with Betrayal later on. You don't have to read it, it just gives more insight in a character. Also, it's really fun to write. This story takes place a couple years before this one. 
> 
> 200 hits, 23 kudos, 1 bookmark, thanks all so much for this. It really feels nice. Thanks.


	20. The Hunt part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Paul is an ass. 'Nuf said.

‘Tom, Tom!’ Edd said, slamming on the door of Tom’s apartment. After about a minute, the door opened. 

‘Edd, it’s in the middle of the night, why…’ Tom groaned. 

‘Tom, this is serious, Tord is gone!’ Tom’s “eyes” widened. ‘What do you mean gone?’ 

‘Well, gone! He wasn’t feeling well, so I called Pat, and when I came back he wasn’t anywhere to be found!’ Edd had started panicking and Tom quickly put his hand on his shoulder. ‘Edd, you go get Matt, I’ll change my clothes and I’ll be here. Then we can all go search, good?’ Edd quickly nodded and went to the next door. 

Once they were all ready, they went outside. ‘I’ll call Patryck while we’re walking. He might know where he is,’ Edd said while they were walking through the streets. Pat quickly picked up. 

‘How’s Tord doing?’ he asked, his voice still a whisper. ‘Pat, we lost him! He left my apartment while I called you!’ It was quiet for a moment. ‘I’ll be right there.’ The phone hung up. 

Patryck ran out of his tent after he had put on his jacket, making a lot of noise. Paul looked out of his tent when Patryck left his. ‘Where are you going,’ he asked, not very friendly. ‘To Tord,’ Patryck responded. Paul got out of his tent, saying ‘Patryck, no.’ ‘Patryck, YES!’ Pat responded. Paul growled. 

‘Didn’t you listen to anything I said today?’ Patryck shook his head. ‘I listened, Paul, but that doesn’t mean that I agree. You can stay here but I’m leaving.' Paul grabbed Patryck by the arm. ‘Oh no you’re not. I won’t let you.’ Patryck got very frustrated now. ‘Paul let me go, now!’ Paul didn’t move. 

‘Paul you useless piece of shit let me go!’ Paul gripped Patryck’s arm tighter. ‘What did you just say…’ Paul hissed. ‘I said let me go. Tord is gone and I need to find him you useless piece of sh-‘ 

Suddenly, Patryck was hit in the face by Paul. He stumbled for a couple seconds but could regain his balance, just to see Paul turn his head away. Patryck felt the tears prickling in his eyes, but took this chance to run away to find Tord. 

But that had hurt. 

Oh, did that hurt. 

Where would Tord go? That was the only thing that Matt could think of. Oh, and himself of course. They checked around the forest that he “lived” in, but couldn’t find him. They did find Patryck. His left cheek was swollen and it seemed like he might have cried. 

‘Patryck, what happened? Was Tord there?’ Tom asked. But Patryck shook his head. ‘No, he’s not there. Paul just…’ He clenched his fists and the trio looked at him with concerned faces. ‘Let’s just go find Tord…’ The three nodded and they started walking towards the mall, maybe he was there. But they had no luck. And to make matters worse, it had started to rain. 

‘Maybe he is in the park?’ Matt asked. Edd nodded and they all raced towards the park. Once they entered the park, they split up, looking in every bush and every tree. No luck. They kept searching and half an hour later, they were walking on a street. 

Whilst walking past an abandoned building, they heard some sound inside. They decided it was best to check if Tord was there. They entered and could see fallen over shelved and piles of books on the ground. It was dark, but the light coming from the windows was just enough to make out the important details. 

Then they heard a groan. 

It came from upstairs. Patryck decided to go first. 

Another groan. It sounded familiar. 

‘Tord!’ Patryck yelled. Edd, Matt and Tom jumped up in surprise. Patryck could just make out the small figure laying on the ground. When Tord heard his friends’ voice, he looked up. 

‘Patryck!’ he screamed. Patryck ran towards Tord and fell to his knees, sitting just before Tord. He, in response, hugged Patryck as tight as he could. ‘Pat, I’m sorry…’ ‘What for Tord?’ Pat responded in a soft voice. ‘For leaving the others without saying anything and upsetting you.’ ‘It’s alright, buddy, let’s get you out of here.’ 

Patryck wanted to pick Tord up, but couldn’t. ‘Pat, I’m stuck…’ Tord muttered. Patryck blinked a couple times. Then he looked at Tord’s left foot. It was stuck under a wooden beam of some sort. ‘Oh,’ was the only thing that the ex-pilot could say. The others had already surrounded Tord and Patryck. 

‘Idiot, what did you do?’ Tom yelled. ‘Does it matter?’ Pat asked. ‘Let’s first get him out of here.’ Pat, Edd, Matt and Tom started lifting the beam so that Tord could crawl out. He had his scarf around his neck, but shook a little bit. ‘Can you stand?’ Edd asked. Tord carefully placed his foot on the ground. It hurt slightly, but not much. ‘I can walk, it’s alright.’ 

‘But really, what did you DO? We were concerned about you, airhead!’ Tom spoke again. Tord rubbed his right arm slightly. ‘I couldn’t sleep, so I thought if I took a walk, I would. I told Edd, you know.’ They all looked at Edd. ‘Edd?’ Tom asked. 

Edd blinked a couple times. ‘It must have been when I was calling with Patryck. I really didn’t hear you!’ Tord pointed his finger at Edd. ‘Aha! So it’s NOT my fault.’ He then pointed at Tom and grinned. He, in response, grunted. 

‘Then, why were you here?’ Matt asked. ‘Well, it started raining, so I thought it was alright to take shelter here… Then I got curious, so I got upstairs, and then this beam fell on me when I couldn’t see anything…’ ‘And how long have you been here?’ Patryck asked. Tord thought for a moment. 

‘Probably half an hour…’ he muttered. Tord shivered. The windows were broken so it was very cold inside. Patryck’s face softened. ‘Let’s get back to your house,’ he said to Edd, Matt and Tom. They all nodded and together they walked back to the apartment complex. Edd would lead the way until they reached his apartment. 

‘So, this is where I live!’ Edd said to Patryck. ‘Oh, so you all have your own place?’ He asked in response. ‘Yup. My apartment is better though.’ Matt added. Edd rolled with his eyes. ‘So, you’ll be staying here, Pat?’ Tom asked. Patryck thought for a moment. ‘Well, I think that’s the best thing I can do. If that’s okay with you guys, of course.’ Tom nodded. ‘You can sleep on my couch if you want to. Not as comfortable, but it’s better than laying on the ground.’ 

Patryck thanked him and Tord sat down on the couch. Boy, was he tired. He hadn’t really listened to his friends while walking back home, as he was deep in thoughts. He laid his head down on the pillow and sighed in relief. 

Patryck saw this and put his finger against his lips. The others nodded and Tom lead Pat to his apartment, while Matt got to his own and Edd got to his room. 

‘So, this is your apartment?’ Pat looked around the room. ‘Yup, all mine. I’m going to bed.’ With that, Tom got to his room. Patryck nodded and sat down on the couch. He took a deep breath and thought about all that has happened today. He thought about Paul. Would he be okay? He had no clue. But he was too tired to think about that. He laid down on the couch, which was way more comfortable then sleeping in a tent on a mat, and soon drifted to sleep.


	21. Please read, it's important.

So, first off, don't worry. I don't plan on ending Worst of us anytime soon. Betrayal will have one more chapter and then I'll mostly work on Moth to the flame until that's done. Why? I made that story to create a character that will be important for the rest of Worst of us. 

We will have more adventures with the Eddsworld gang, but I've decided to put that in another story, as it will include an OC. That way, you can see the next chapter as an end to wrap things up if you don't want it to have an OC in it, or you can keep reading the next story. If I'd first make the chapters with the OC, and make her backstory after that, she could act differently in the stories. So, I first flesh out the character before implementing. 

You can see it like this: I write a character that loves flying, but in the backstory the character has a fear of hights. Of course, they could get over it, but you get the point. 

Also, I don't know how much the character will be seen in the story. I had most of the chapters planned for Betrayal, and only the last 2 chapters and the upcoming chapter were completely not-planned. The whole Pat-Paul fight was though, I just didn't know what to do afterwards XD. 

I have already written the first chapter of the next story, continuing where we left off. As I said, I will continue working on Moth to the flame until that's done. That might take some time, or it might not, I'm not sure. I do want to keep working on this though. So, again, I don't have big plans (yet) for what will come after Betrayal. Here's where you come in:

1\.   
First of, I need a name. I want it to do something with what will be happening in the next "era" of the story, but that can be in many different ways. Just the word "gun" would be good enough, if there's a gun somewhere. Also, the name could bring me up some ideas. So, what I ask of you, people that actually made it this far into my story: 

Names. Could be a saying, could be just one word, could be a couple together. Just like Betrayal. It was a simple name, that's what I wanted for that particulair story, but I don't know what I want for the upcoming one. So if you have a nice name, just tell me! :3

2\.   
Ideas. Like, i still want the story to be sprinkled with angst. Maybe a little bit, probably a lot. It will also have fluff, of course. So just comment ideas. (Of course, I will credit you for the idea as it was not mine. Or, if I already had the idea and someone else got it too, I will still write that down in the notes just so that people don't think I'm stealing and not crediting) An example of those kind of ideas: "Make (character) be allergic to carrots," or "They go to a mall and get robbed". Things like that. :3

3\.   
Tell me what you think needs more info/clearing up. For example, you find that (character) didn't have enough development or that (character) should need his own chapter. (I really want a Matt-centered chapter now that I think of it he's so adorable :3.) Or maybe you want a little backstory on why (character) does something, or (dis)likes something. I probably didn't think of things you'd tell me, because i'm the one writing it, and imagening these characters differently then all of you. Or I'm just dumb xD.

So, that's it. I will post the last chapter of the Cold arc soon, ending Betrayal, then working on Moth to the flame, (maybe some other stories cus I am in love with Camp Camp since a couple days and season 2 episode 12 I can't wait uuuhhhhhh,) and then working on the continuation of Betrayal that doesn't have a name yet. You're all in charge, so give it all you've got! :3


	22. Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe something to put you in the mood? Idk I listened to this while implementing the text from word in here and making the Notes and stuff and it's just a great song and a great cover: 
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_efOrpKuApE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't sure if I wanted to upload this... Not because I didn't like the chapter, no way! I LOVED writing this chapter! (Although I already wrote it like, 2 weeks ago?) No, it's because I wasn't sure if people still wanted this. If people still read this. Please read last chapter if you haven't already, it's really important!
> 
> Comments are always welcome. It shows me that people still read this. It gives possibilities to share what you do and don't like, give me ideas, and mostly, make me inspired to write. Every comment warms my heart, on any of my stories.

Tord woke up when he heard someone whisper something. He opened his eyes and looked around. Where was he? Oh, yea, Edd’s place. Right. 

He slowly stood up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He looked to his right and saw Edd, Tom and Patryck looking at him. A couple seconds later, Matt came out of the kitchen. 

‘Uhh, morning guys,’ Tord waved at them. Patryck snickered slightly and only then did Tord realise that he had still had the tiny otter in his hands. He blushed and quickly put it in his hoodie. Patryck waved with his hands, ‘It’s alright Tord, your hair is just…’ 

Tord felt his head and yes, it was indeed a mess. He stretched his arms. ‘Hey, Tord, you can take a shower if you want,’ Edd said, and Tord nodded. The day before, he had also taken a shower, and he felt that a warm shower would do him good. 

Once he was done and walked out of the bathroom, the guys were sitting at the kitchen table, and Tord joined them. They were all quiet. Tord looked at Edd, then at Tom, then at Matt. It was weird, a month ago they have been at each other’s throat. Now they were… Friends? He then looked at Patryck. He looked at his plate while chewing. Something was different. Yes, his cheek was swollen. When did that happen? 

‘Uhm, Pat?’ Patryck looked up. ‘Yes?’ Patryck said after swallowing. ‘How did your cheek get so swollen?’ Patryck’s eyes saddened. ‘Paul,’ he muttered, taking another bite and looking at his plate. Tord’s eyes widened when he heard that. He slammed his hands on the table as he stood up, startling all the others. ‘I’m gonna kill the son of a bitch…’ Tord hissed. ‘Tord, it’s alright, it was late already, he probably just needed to blow off some steam!’ Patryck quickly protected his friend. 

‘On your face?’ Tom crossed his arms. Patryck looked at Tom, then quickly at Tord, to Edd and then Matt. He lowered his gaze and sighed. ‘No…’ 

Edd looked concerned, just like the others. ‘Is this the first time he hit you or…’ Patryck shook his head. ‘He’d never done something like this before.’ He put his head in his hands. Tord had sat down again, calming down a little, and continued eating. Tom, Matt and Edd shared concerned looks at each other. 

Then Patryck looked up. ‘He has the car.’ Tord eyes widened. Patryck quickly stood up and put on his jacket. ‘I must check if Paul has left or not. You can all stay here, I know what to do.’ 

But Tord had already stood up and grabbed his scarf from the couch. He grabbed his bag and looked at Patryck. ‘I’ll go with you.’ Patryck shook his head. ‘No, I can do this alone. And, I’m sure he still doesn’t really trust you as much. I don’t want you to get hurt.’ Tord crossed his arm. ‘But I don’t want YOU to get hurt, so I’m coming with you.’ The others had all stood up too. 

‘Yea, so, you are not going alone,’ Tom spoke. ‘Yea, Tom is right, it’s safer if we go together. He trusts us.’ Edd added. Patryck shook his head again and sighed. ‘Alright then. Let’s go.’ 

And so, they all ran to the forest. Patryck first wanted to check if Paul was there and how he was doing. They entered the clearing, Patryck first, and could see Paul nowhere. Not in the tent, not somewhere close to it. Shit. Then they ran to the car. If Paul had the car, he could be anywhere. What if he saw a dog? Then he would flip out. He was alone, he couldn’t handle it alone. All those thoughts ran through Patryck’s mind. 

Tord’s only thought was: I’m gonna kill Paul. The car was still there. Good. They got back to the clearing, looking for the keys of the car. They would find Paul later. One person had to guard the car for if Paul came back. That was Tom’s job. Eventually, Edd heard his phone ring. Paul was coming. 

They quickly went back to the car where Paul was talking to Tom. ‘Tom, let me in the car,’ Paul spoke calmly. Tom shook his head. Then they saw Patryck and the others. Paul didn't look at Patryck or Tord. ‘Why are you all here,’ he said, a growl in his voice. ‘We came to check on you, Paul,’ Patryck responded, taking a step forward. Only then did Paul look at Patryck. ‘I don’t need you, Patryck, leave me alone!’ 

‘Paul, you need to calm down. Can’t we just talk about this?’ He took some more steps in the direction of Paul until they were two meters away from eachother. ‘No, we can’t!’ 

Patryck became angry now. ‘Paul, I am getting really sick of this. Just listen to me!’ Another step closer. 

Too close. 

Paul grabbed Patryck by the jacket. ‘Go now, I don’t want to harm you. I really don’t want to, but you’ll leave me no choice if you don’t go now,’ he hissed, just loud enough for the others to hear. 

Patryck became scared now. Paul gripped the jacket tighter and his fiery eyes stared at Pat’s. Patryck didn’t want another hit to the face. Not from him. Why has all this happened? Why couldn’t shit go back to normal? He just wanted to get away from Paul, and that was the worst. He cared so much about his friend, how could he be scared of him? He couldn’t breathe. He was angry, sad, scared. Tired. 

‘STOP IT PAUL!’ Tord yelled. Paul looked at him. He immediately let go of Patryck, who fell to his hands and knees, softly starting to sob. Paul didn’t see it. He walked towards Tord who kept his gaze on Paul. Matt had walked towards Pat and tried to comfort him. 

Tom jumped in front of Paul, with Edd joining him a couple seconds later. ‘Hold up there big boy,’ Tom said, holding out his arm. Paul stopped walking and looked at Tom. He growled. Then he pushed Tom aside, but he wasn’t having it. When Paul passed, Tom kicked the back of his leg, making him fall. He wanted to stand up, but Tom pushed his face against the ground, sitting on his back. 

‘Strike three, you’re out.’ ‘Strike three?’ Paul asked, head still on the ground. 

‘1- Pushing me aside. 2- Hitting Pat. 3- Making him cry. You fucking bastard.’ He pushed his head further into the ground, earning a grunt from Paul. 

Then Paul heard it. Patryck was crying. Fuck. He only wanted to protect Patryck from Tord. He didn’t want him to be scared of him! 

Then he saw Tord sitting down next to him. ‘Why did you hurt Patryck, Paul? I really don’t understand.’ Tord didn’t look at Paul. He looked at Patryck. Edd had now joined Matt and Patryck was sitting now, still crying a little. 

‘He would give everything for us. For me and for you. And you treated him like trash. That’s how you should feel. Like trash. Garbage.’ ‘You’re rambling,’ Paul muttered. ‘I know and I don’t care.’ 

Tord signed Tom to release Paul and he obliged. Paul slowly sat up, looking at Patryck. He felt so, so guilty. Tord noticed and chuckles. ‘Seems like we have one thing in common.’ Paul looked at Tord. 

‘We both care about Pat.’ Tord stood up and hit Paul on the back of his head. ‘Idiot.’ 

Tord walked to Patryck and sat next to Matt. Tom joined him. Paul couldn’t just sit there, so he slowly stood up and walked towards Pat. Wait, so, Patryck had been with Tord the whole day? Tord cares so much about Patryck? Those thoughts were floating in his mind. 

He sat down in front of Patryck, looking at the ones surrounding him. Tom shot an angry glare at him, Edd was concerned, Tord’s face was cold, and Matt didn’t want to look at him. He took a deep breath while Patryck was slowly sobbing. Then, out of nowhere, he embraced his friends, making the others jump back. 

Patryck was scared for a moment. What was Paul doing? Patryck heard his friend sobbing as he held his jacket tightly. ‘I-I’m sorry! I can’t handle it anymore!’ Patryck’s gaze softened and he returned the hug. 

It was quiet for an awkward amount of time, until Paul let go. Patryck held Paul’s shoulders in his hands and looked him in the eye. ‘What is it that you can’t handle?’ Pat asked. Paul’s hands gripped the grass under him. 

‘I’m just tired,’ he admitted. Patryck knew he was talking the truth. Paul let his arms drop. It felt good to say this. 

‘And why did you want Tord gone?’ Patryck asked softly, at which Paul responded: ‘I’m just so scared that you will be hurt. That we will be hurt.’ He shivered. ‘And why did you think that?’ Patryck asked. Paul sighed. ‘A nightmare.’ He didn’t want to think about it. Those gruesome images. He shook for a moment. ‘But do you still feel the same way?’ Pat asked. Paul shook his head, but it was barely visible. ‘No…’ 

Patryck smiled. Paul closed his eyes and lowered his head. ‘I’m sorry, to all of you…’ Paul muttered. Tord huffed. ‘You’d better be.’ He acted very “chill”, but Patryck, Tom, Edd and Matt knew that he had really missed Paul. Well, Matt had already forgotten by now. 

Paul was so, so relieved that he could finally talk normally with Patryck. That he could say what was on his mind, what was haunting him. It just felt so much better. He smiled. He opened his eyes again and looked at Patryck. He smiled. They both smiled. 

Matt sat next to them and widened his arms, eyes shining. Patryck chuckled and put his arm around Matt’s shoulder. Paul sighed and joined. Edd pushed Tom and Tord in too. This was good. 

Paul was _fine._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Paul isn't ALWAYS an ass... 
> 
> Having worked in an army, being afraid of dogs, having to take care of an aggressive smol bean, getting nightmares and just overall having a lot of stress can't be good for you, can it? Poor boi just wants a hug! :'3
> 
> Thanks for going on this journey with me. I'm not done writing this fic, no way! Hope I made your lives just a little better :3


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